Gemma Hussey was “principled, energetic, loyal and good fun; a trailblazer in the true sense of the word and also incredibly courageous,” her daughter Rachel told a large gathering of family, friends and former political colleagues at a humanist funeral ceremony held at the RDS concert hall to celebrate her life on Friday.
“She made a huge impact during her career, especially in politics, and especially for women in politics,” she said of her mother, the former government minister who died on Tuesday after a short illness.
“She took very strong stances on social issues in the 1980s, which took a huge amount of courage and bravery. It’s hard to believe it now, but introducing the crime of rape in marriage, opposing the Eighth Amendment in 1983 and supporting the divorce referendum in 1986 were difficult things to do, and were very unpopular in many quarters, including with some people in her own party. She was way ahead of her time and it took Ireland decades to catch up.”
The ceremony, celebrated by Brian Whiteside, was full of warm tributes to Hussey, who established a successful English language school before entering politics, initially as a founder, along with Audrey Conlon and Hilary Pratt, of the Women’s Political Association in the 1970s.
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Both Ms Conlon and Ms Pratt were among an attendance that also included former ministers Mary Harney, Nora Owen, Frances Fitzgerald and Mary Mitchell O’Connor as well as European commissioner Mairéad McGuinness. The President was represented by Capt Chloe McMahon.
Ms Hussey was subsequently elected as an independent senator before joining Fine Gael and being elected to the Dáil in 1982. She served as minister for education, then social welfare, then, briefly, labour, before retiring in 1989 having “achieved all she felt she could,” the gathering heard.
She said it was fitting her mother’s funeral service was taking place on the day of an election and in a room next door to where votes would be counted. “Mum loved elections,” she said. She would also, she said, have been pleased that the timing had brought home the three of her grandchildren who live abroad in time to vote.
Commenting on the tributes paid to her mother since her death, she said: “It’s lovely for us to see how much she meant to so many people, and to reflect on and see first hand the extent of the impact she’s had and the legacy she is leaving.” She said the family was grateful to be able to celebrate her mother’s life with so many friends after her father, Derry, had died during Covid.
Ms Hussey’s friend Yvonne Scannell said they had become close after meeting while Ms Scannell had been campaigning for the Married Women’s Tax Reform Association and Ms Hussey had been one of just only two politicians to provide support.
She recalled the many ways in which her friend had contributed to important causes, including as a member of the boards of the Rape Crisis Centre and Abbey Theatre but said she wonderful to be around socially too.
“Some people thought, or still think, Gemma was some sort of raging, man-eating feminist, but in fact there was something of the southern belle about her,” she said, to much laughter.
She said you would never have seen her friend change a tyre but she could certainly organise. “If Fine Gael had made Gemma director of elections, we’d be living in a one-party state now.”
Terry Prone, another long-standing friend, told the crowd: “We have a duty now to remember and remind everybody of what she did for us and for the future.”
Three granddaughters, Anna, Catherine and Grace, spoke affectionately at the end, mentioning that they had not known when they were young just how significant figure their “grandma” was. Later, as they grew up, they started to register her appearances on television and radio.
But even then they were still learning, admitted Grace. “In my Leaving Cert year I used to rail against whoever it was who introduced the oral and aural exams. Imagine my surprise,” she said, “when I read in the newspaper this week that it was the woman I sat and broke bread with around the kitchen table.”
Ms Hussey was predeceased by her husband, Derry, who died in 2020, and is survived by her children, Rachel, Ruth and Andrew, her seven grandchildren and her brother Paddy.
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