Tragic Eileen Flynn's lessons in courage, determination and love
- Published: 20 September 2008
By Sarah Slater
In the Eileen Flynn story, it must surely be the greatest irony of all. She has been laid to rest just 20 feet from the entrance of a convent secondary school where, as a Catholic teacher, she was dismissed after it was revealed that she had conceived a child by a married man.
The personal life of the English and History teacher divided the nation in the early 1980s as TV pictures captured her reaction in her failed attempts in the Circuit and High Courts and Employment Equality Tribunal to be re-instated.
Her story was based around love; that was why she took the case to law. At its core was whether her private life was her own affair. She was seen as a mother out of wedlock who should be shunned.
She did not get her job back -- even though she married her lover Richie Roche 11 years ago.
The very public airing of a very private affair transformed her life. Her solicitor and close friend Simon Kennedy said this week that she quickly became a "very determined and outspoken woman. She stuck by the one thing she believed in -- and that was that she was in love. Until the day she died last week there wasn't another man for her. She was true to her feelings."
She would not give her child up for adoption when her concealed pregnancy was challenged by Sister Pauline Leonard at the all-girls Convent School on the outskirts of New Ross, Co Wexford. At first, the Galway University graduate denied she was pregnant but then admitted she was.
The baby was born five days after the school closed for summer break in June 1982. Two months later, she was dismissed with four months' pay of €2,539 when she refused to resign.
In the years following Eileen's case she never once regretted her decision because she believed that "she stuck with the truth", said Mr Kennedy, a former seminarian. But she became the subject of abusive phonecalls. Even her mother who lived in Co Laois became the target of ridicule. And Mr Kennedy himself received several death threats for taking the case on.
"Her case would cause a scandal and it had to be gotten rid of. That is how the Catholic Church viewed it and how they handled such matters. Eileen never wanted to cause controversy nor did she want publicity."
When Mr Kennedy served the summons of pending court action at Maynooth College, the teaching ground of young priests, the reception the young solicitor received was, he recalled, "less than cordial".
Did he feel at the time that they would win the case? He said that if an offer was made to settle he advised Eileen to take it. "She knew from the start that she was up against it, but she was a straightforward person who liked to follow things through.
"We would have liked to have gone further with the case to the Supreme and the European courts, but neither Eileen nor I had the finances to pursue it further," said Mr Kennedy.
"The passion of Eileen struck me when she had lost her case for the second time. She went to the Sisters. . . and shook hands with every single one of them. And from there on she went and pursued her case with the determination of somebody with the conviction of her own belief in who she was and what she was.
"When she lost her case for the last time (in 1985) she bore no resentment and never did all of her life."
But she retreated into the background and worked alongside Richie in the family's two pubs.
It is now 26 years since Eileen Flynn became national news and Irish society has since embraced change on social and moral issues. But Mr Kennedy believes a similar case could occur again despite the introduction of equality and divorce legislation in latter years.
"Attitudes have changed, yes, and relevant legislation has been passed. But the conservative nature of the legal bench can influence and twist the outcome of such cases."
But perhaps, in the end, Eileen did win her case to be re-instated as a teacher. In 2001, following a conversation with CBS Primary School Principal Brian McMahon, Eileen was offered a position in a Catholic school again. Last year her position was made permanent. She was much loved and respected by pupils, parents and her teaching colleagues.
Her pupils formed a guard of honour as she was laid to rest in the cemetery grounds of the Church of the Assumption in Rosbercon.
Eileen, aged 53, passed away last week a day after her wedding anniversary. She died suddenly while out with friends in the Three Bullet Gate pub in New Ross town.
Describing herself and Richie as the "odd couple", Eileen lived her life the way that she wanted.
"She left her mark in this town; she left her mark on all of us. Most especially, she left her mark on her family. Most especially, what she left were her children," said Mr Kennedy.
"Perhaps," he added, "the truth is you end up where your heart is and that's the bottom line."
Eileen ended her days with the man and family she loved and back at a job she adored -- teaching.
