O’Brien, Maureen

Date of Birth: 31st May 1923

Place of Birth: Dublin

Date Interviewed: 11th August 2008

Summary: Maureen O’Brien grew up in a poor home in Rathmines in Dublin and remembers well the poverty of many of the neighbouring families. After finishing her schooling she went to work in the GPO in Dublin’s O’Connell Street. Maureen describes it as a “dreary place” to work in, in spite of its historic significance. She talks about her father who was a member of the IRA and took part in the Easter Rising of 1916. Maureen was asked to switch her holiday dates to facilitate a co-worker and this led to her taking an unplanned break with a colleague in Blackwater, Co. Wexford. This was the first of many visits to the area and she eventually settled in Curracloe. Maureen is pleased that some of her children have now married into Wexford families. Maureen’s sister Carmel Morris sat in on the interview and gave some of her own recollections on the events her sister was talking about.