Sheila Conroy

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Sheila Conroy (born Sheila Williams) was an Irish trade union leader and activist who lived from 22 April 1918 to 11 May 2012. She broke barriers for women in the workforce and in public life, becoming the first woman on the national executive committee of the Irish Transport and General Workers’ Union (ITGWU) and later the first woman to chair the RTÉ Authority, Ireland’s semi-state broadcaster.

She was born in Bantry, County Cork. After a difficult early life that included illness and leaving school at age 14, she trained as a confectioner and then worked as a waitress. She moved to Dublin in 1944, where she became a shop steward for ITGWU at the Capitol Theatre and led efforts to organize hotel, restaurant and catering workers, most of whom were women. In 1952 she joined the branch committee, and in 1955 she became the ITGWU’s first female national executive committee member. She topped the poll in 1958 and, in 1959, married John Conroy and briefly resigned from the union to volunteer with homeless boys’ work after his death in 1969.

In 1969 she started working at The People’s College in Dublin, first as a part-time secretary-organiser and then full-time from 1975. She helped grow the college’s courses and enrolment, becoming its president in 1984. She also served in roles with Aontas (adult education) and helped secure government funding and sponsorships for the college.

Conroy was active in public life beyond the union. She was a member of Ireland’s Commission on the Status of Women (appointed in 1970), which produced a 1972 report recommending equal pay and the removal of the marriage bar. She opposed Ireland’s entry into the European Community, chairing Irish Women Against the Common Market. She co-founded the National Association of Widows in Ireland and lobbied for widows’ rights.

In 1973 she joined the RTÉ Authority and became its chair from 1976 to 1979, the first woman to chair an Irish semi-state body. She served again on the Authority from 1979 to 1982 and pushed for community-led programming and greater support for adult education and the Irish language. She also held other public roles, including work with the Commission on Adult Education, the Health Education Bureau, and the Rent Tribunal, and she campaigned to reduce illiteracy in institutions like St Patrick’s Institution.

Conroy received honorary recognition later in life, including an honorary fellowship (1988) and an honorary doctorate (2001). She passed away on 11 May 2012 at the Tara Care Centre in Bray, County Wicklow, and is buried with her husband at Deans Grange Cemetery.