Bríd Rodgers – A Courageous Leader for Peaceful Change: Celebrating 90 Years

Join us to celebrate Bríd on her 90th Birthday. There will be music from renowned Irish fiddler Mairéad Ní Mhaonaigh and a reading from the acclaimed Damian Gorman. Guests will include Mayor Lilian Seenoi-Barr, Mark Durkan, Dawn Purvis, David Adams, Máiría Cahill and more.

Bríd Rodgers, former Minister of Agriculture in the first NI Executive, was the first woman to chair a political party in Ireland. She was dedicated to non-violent political change. 

Brought up in the Gaeltacht area in Gweedore in the west of County Donegal, she was involved in the Campaign for Social Justice and Civil Rights leader. She was a founding member of the SDLP. In 1978 she became the first woman to chair a political party in Ireland, and in 1981 was the party's general secretary. In 1983, Taoiseach Garret Fitzgerald appointed her to the Irish Senate.

Bríd, chaired the SDLP Negotiating Team during the Good Friday Agreement. She was elected MLA for Upper Bann in 1998 and was appointed Minister for Agriculture in the NI Executive. She was the deputy leader of the Social Democratic and Labour Party in Northern Ireland.

Bríd has been a passionate campaigner for peace, justice and reconciliation.