The pioneer senator rewriting the rules in Ireland

In June 2020, Eileen Flynn was nervously waiting at home for an important phone call. When it came later that afternoon, it was the Irish Prime Minister inviting her to become a senator in the upper house of the country's parliament, the Oireachtas. Eileen accepted and in doing so changed her country's political history by becoming the first ever senator from the Irish Traveller community - a marginalised ethnic minority of around 40,000 people in Ireland that often face prejudice and discrimination. Although only 30 years old at the time, Eileen had not had an easy path to politics. She grew up one of nine siblings on Ireland's oldest halting site - purpose-built accommodation provided by the local authority for Travellers - where the living conditions were tough and many children didn't finish secondary education. Her mother died when Eileen was just 10 years old, then days later, Eileen was in a serious car crash that left her using a wheelchair for nearly a year. Despite missing countless days of school during her recovery, she and her twin sister were the first from their site to go into higher education. After years of activism on causes including same-sex marriage and abortion rights, both issues that run up against beliefs within her own religion and culture, Eileen was appointed one of the Prime Minister's 11 nominees to the Irish senate where she continues to champion the rights of people from her own and other ethnic minorities in Ireland. But for Eileen, hers isn't a sad story but one about the women who've inspired her, and the little girls whose role model she's become.

Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Andrea Rangecroft

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(Photo: Irish Senator Eileen Flynn speaks into a cordless microphone. She has a dark bob and is wearing a tan jacket.)