All the right words have been used to describe my friend and former colleague Marian Finucane since her sudden and shocking death on Thursday: fearless, intelligent, curious, kind, empathetic, fair, warm-hearted and brave. All of them are accurate.
When I summon an image of Marian in my mind now, it’s of a woman full of laughter with a great sense of fun, a woman with a sharp eye for injustice and unfairness, one who could – and usually did – cut through any pomposity displayed by an interviewee, or indeed anyone in public life, and, most of all, a woman with a great love for people.
Her contribution to the world of broadcasting, and particularly women’s broadcasting, will keep her name alive for a long time to come. I cannot imagine what Ireland would have been like without her. In her early years as a broadcaster when we worked together on Women Today and The Women’s Programme, she had no fear of offending the conservative men – and some women – who objected to our coverage of what they would have considered “private” matters: sexuality, contraception, divorce, abortion, domestic violence, equal pay and many more issues which, once given an airing by Marian and our team, opened the floodgates for women wanting to share their experience.
Hardworking feminist activists
Women Today in particular was a conduit for information to be passed between women who were often isolated at home with small children, having had to give up their jobs on marriage. It also made space on the airwaves for the many hardworking feminist activists who were doing the really hard work on the ground by opening women’s refuges, rape crisis centres, legal advice centres. And it gave voice to the thousands of women whose voices had never been heard, but who wrote us letters on a daily basis to tell their stories.
Like her and my good friend Nuala O’Faolain, she loved Ireland. She knew and understood its many nooks and crannies and the uniqueness and contrariness of its people. She loved walking the small roads of the countryside, she understood rural as well as urban life. Marian in her jeans and her wellies on the farm on a wet day was the very same Marian of good taste and understated glamour you might run into at a social occasion on the same evening. She did not adapt her personality to anyone’s needs. She had great confidence in the truth of what she was. She eschewed celebrity attention in a world where that is not easy, a world where it is the norm for media stars.
Fundraising
She was an avid reader, with many interests, and had an admirable curiosity about the wider world, keeping up to date with political developments in all corners of the globe. Her love for Ireland did not blind her to the privileged status we enjoy living in this tiny, fertile, democratic island. And it was that concern for others whose fate had left them bereft of comfort and support that led her and her husband, John Clarke, to found the charitable organisation Friends from Ireland. Over the years, Marian and John gave their energy, their skills, their money and their fundraising capacity to do remarkable work, first in South Africa where they worked with sufferers from Aids, and Aids orphans, and later – and to this day – in other parts of Africa too, in partnership with a range of community organisations. Her huge commitment to the Hospice Foundation for more than 25 years is also truly admirable. Hers was a life well and fully lived. May she rest in peace.
Doireann Ní Bhriain Doireann is a broadcaster who worked with Marian Finucane on Women Today and The Women’s Programme
