Mary Kenny

Mary Kenny (born 4 April 1944) is an Irish journalist, broadcaster and playwright known for expressing conservative opinions. In 1970, she was a founding member of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement, being regarded in her early career as one of the country's earliest and foremost feminists, but her opinions eventually changed substantially. A contributor to the Irish Independent, she is based in England.

Quotes

• [On the "contraceptive train" episode] I knew that this was something which had to be done, because it would make a point dramatically, sensationally, even historically. I was also wretched about doing it. I knew how upset my mother would be – how mortified to see her daughter in the headlines, even identified as a ringleader, in a stunt which involved buying French letters in Belfast.
  • Something of Myself And Others, Dublin: Liberties Press (2013), p. 153

• Yes, a musical entitled The Train has for its theme that notorious contraceptive train which ran from Belfast to Dublin in 1971 and is to open next week in Dublin.
  I participated in that original stunt, but I have declined any further connection with the performance in question and chosen not to appear on any radio or television programme associated with it.
  I do not endorse Rough Magic's enterprise in turning this episode into a musical, because, for me, it is not the way to explain the historical context of birth control in Ireland - and elsewhere.
  I also feel that an experience which belongs to my life has been stolen. It is for me to tell my story, at least while I am alive, not others.
  • "The condom train is our story, including its misguided folly", Irish Independent (28 September 2015)
  • The Train, by Arthur Riordan and Bill Whelan (music), was staged at the Dublin Theatre Festival in 2015 and had short runs at the Abbey Theatre Dublin and The MAC Belfast in Spring 2017.