"Remembering Ann Lovett" - Poets, Academics, Journalists and Students with Singer/Songwriter Christy Moore - 15 year old who died alone giving birth

It is thirty years since the death of Ann Lovett – the fifteen year old school girl from Grandard, Co. Roscommon, who died alone trying to give birth beside a statue to the Virgin Mary in a church grotto. Her death shocked Ireland at the time and led to an outpouring of grief and a national debate that still resonates to the present day. Dr. Sinead Kennedy, a lecturer in NUI Maynooth was only six years old when Ann Lovett died and she can still remember the effect it had even as a small child. In a packed to capacity lecture theatre in Maynooth College, she organised what she described as a commemorative conversation to remember Ann Lovett. Anne Daly, Filmmaker and co-producer of 'Mothers Against The Odds' went along and recorded this report. Justine Mc Cathy Sunday Times columnist ; Feminist and Activist Ailbhe Smyth, Anne Mulhall (School of English UCD); Historian Catriona Crowe (Head of Special Projects, National Archives) all recalled the death of Ann Lovett and its significance – both then and now. Introducing the evening Dr. Sinead Kennedy took us back to January 31st in 1984 the day Ann Lovett left school a little earlier than usual.

Anne Daly is co-founder of Esperanza Productions Twitter: @AnneDaly19 Web: www.esperanzaproductions.com Film: Mothers Against The Odds --- http://vimeo.com/ondemand/3865/71831237