Former politician Carmencita Hederman, who served as lord mayor of Dublin during the city’s millennium celebration in 1988, has died aged 85.
Ms Hederman was an independent councillor on Dublin City Council from 1974 to 1999, and primarily represented the Pembroke area, although electoral boundaries sometimes varied.
A graduate of Trinity College Dublin, she served in Seanad Éireann for one term from 1989 to 1993 as a member of the Dublin University Panel. She received an honorary Doctorate of Laws from Trinity in 1988.
She continued her activism long after leaving the political spotlight. In 2024 she cosigned a letter written by sitting senator Lynn Ruane to call for “the immediate termination of business and research relationships between [Trinity] and Israeli institutions and companies, until such a time as the war in Gaza and the occupation of Palestine have ended”.
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She succeeded eventual taoiseach Bertie Ahern as Lord Mayor of Dublin, with Ben Briscoe taking up the post after her in 1988.
That year she was awarded the Rehab People of the Year Award, given to those “who bring joy and light to the lives of others or have supported others in their darkest hours” for her political work.
She was also awarded the Spirit of Dublin Award in 1988 “for her efforts to instil a community spirit in Dublin”.
Born Carmencita Cruess Callaghan on October 23rd, 1939, to an affluent Dublin family, in 1962 she married William (Billy) Hederman, a noted doctor and surgeon who was president of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland in the early 1990s.
A mother of five and grandmother to nine, her daughter Wendy entered politics, also representing the Pembroke area from 2004 to 2008.
She wrote in her election manifesto that “for 25 years, my mother dedicated herself to ensuring the proper development of the area and protecting its amenities and village character”.
Ms Hederman died peacefully on Saturday at the Royal Hospital, Donnybrook. She was predeceased by her husband, who died in 2016, and is survived by five children.
Ms Hederman’s funeral will take place Wednesday in St Mary’s Church, Haddington Road, after which a cremation ceremony will take place in Harold’s Cross.
