Madam, - It was good to read the fine tribute to Betty Friedan by Patricia Sullivan (The Irish Times, February 6th). She was indeed an extraordinarily influential figure.
Her influence was felt in Ireland when she came to address a big public meeting organised by the Women's Political Association in late November 1980. With the help of Elisabeth Shannon, wife of the then US Ambassador Bill Shannon, Ms Friedan was persuaded to come to Dublin, where she stayed for nearly a week at the embassy residence in the Phoenix Park and filled every moment meeting people and enjoying Dublin, leaving a host of exhausted people in her wake when she finally left.
The WPA was astonished and delighted when more than 1,200 people crowded into the biggest room we could find in Dublin. For two hours, speaking without notes, she made her audience laugh, she moved them, outraged them, and held them in the palm of her hand.
People who heard her that day were never the same again. It was a seminal moment, and a huge impetus was given to the struggle for change.
Meeting her several years later in New York, I heard Betty speak with enormous enthusiasm about Ireland and her visit and describe it as a real highlight in her life. Well, she was a highlight in ours. - Yours, etc,
GEMMA HUSSEY, Burlington Road, Dublin 4.