Brought to light by Dr John Borgonovo of University College Cork’s book, Florence and Josephine O’Donoghue’s War of Independence, Josephine’s role during this time is as remarkable as it is hard to believe.

Born into the extremely wealthy Murphy distillery family, Muriel MacSwiney is best known as the widow of Cork Lord Mayor Terence MacSwiney.

With a roll call of political achievements in her own right — including Sinn Féin leadership in 1927 — and lauded for her oratory and publicity prowess, much of Mary MacSwiney’s activities in 1920, unsurprisingly, revolved around her younger brother ...

Another formidable pair of sisters, Nora and Sheila Wallace’s StAugustine Street (then Brunswick Street) newsagents was a headquarters for IRA intelligence throughout 1920.

An active Cumann na mBan member since the age of 20 and from a well-known republican family, Blarney Street’s Maighréad Uí Luasa was another woman who risked her job, arrest and imprisonment during this time.

Flowers, arms, and a mayor’s last moments — the Duggan sisters, florists Peg and Annie, seamstress Sara, and school teacher Brighid, were four such women deeply involved in the city’s Republican activities.

The six women elected to Dáil Éireann, dismissed by their male colleagues as the grieving wives, mothers and sisters of the heroic dead, were political forces who had each arrived at a strongly held position on the Treaty, writes Deputy Political Editor Elaine Loughlin