President Higgins receives Dunnes Stories Anti-Apartheid Strikers at Áras an Uachtaráin

President Higgins receives Dunnes Stories Anti-Apartheid Strikers at Áras an Uachtaráin

Date: Fri 19th Jul, 2024 | 16:30

Uachtaráin na hÉireann, President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina this afternoon welcomed Dunnes Stories Anti-Apartheid Strikers to Áras an Uachtaráin to mark the 40th anniversary of the strike.

The strike commenced 40 years ago today, on 19 July 1984, when Mary Manning refused to handle the sale of grapefruit from South Africa.

The group of workers, mainly young women, in Dunnes Stores on Henry Street took a moral stand and refused to handle produce imported from South Africa in what was an utterly selfless act. For this refusal, they were suspended, thus marking the beginning of what would be an almost three-year battle by twelve determined and brave workers. The power of their protest and principled stance eventually led the Government of Ireland to ban South African goods from being sold in Ireland, and this ban remained in place until the end of the apartheid regime.

To mark the 40th anniversary, President Michael D. Higgins and his wife Sabina today welcomed Mary Manning and her fellow strikers Liz Deasy, Karen Gearon, Sandra Griffin, Theresa Mooney, Vonnie Munroe McCue, Cathryn O Reilly, Alma Russell and Michelle Sherlock to Áras an Uachtaráin.