Margaret Gaj 1919-2011

by R Mon Jun 27, 2011 01:59

The Irish Times has this report-
Death of Margaret Gaj
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0627/1....html

by placard carrier Mon Jun 27, 2011 04:44

As a member of the former Prisoners Rights Organisation, which Margaret Gaj helped to found and direct, I wish to express my deepest sympathies with the family and closest friends of the recently deceased Margaret Gaj. I knew her mostly in the peace and prisoners' rights contexts, but was well aware of her involvement from the 1950s in Noel Browne's campaign to stop corporal punishment in Irish schools; CND and related peace campaigning; and the welfare of stray and abandoned cats and dogs in Dublin. She had several other strings to her bow, and I hope other posters will furnish the relevant details, especially individuals who knew her very well and for many years.

We in the PRO always respectfully addressed her as Mrs. Gaj regardeless of pc protocols then supplanting traditional modes of address during the newly-arrived feminist and populist waves. Joe Costello (now a Labour TD) was an able spokesman for the PRO. We called him 'the PRO of the PRO', and ex-prisoner Gerry Callaghan was always a stalwart organiser of placards and postering around town for events and campaigns. Mrs. Gaj often treated active ex-prisoner campaigners to a free lunch at her very reasonably priced restaurant in Lower Baggot Street. As an impoverished student I used to eat there, and often drank coffee at night with fellow students when the university library had closed. She was sensitive to the emotional needs of her staff, some of whom like Mairead from Donegal, stayed with her until she retired and sold the premises in 1980. Sometimes at PRO events she would excuse herself and rush back to the restaurant, quipping that otherwise "the staff will sack me."

She enlisted the active support of several individuals who went on to do important work in the areas of legal rights and welfare for the down-and-outs in Dublin. As Honorary Treasurer of the PRO she exercised a Scottish tightfisted approach to cash flow. During my time in the organisation the annual expenses never reached one thousand punt in a year; yet the qualitative output of the PRO was always in inverse ratio to its humble financial expenditure. Committee meetings held at Lower Buckingham Street and elsewhere before that were open to visitors, especially people facing a crisis. Everybody could speak and make suggestions and decisions were taken by consenus - but there was an unstated agreement among us that in the last analysis Mrs. Gaj was the boss.

Mrs. Gaj had a husband with a drink problem and after his death she took a strict puritancial opposition to drug taking. She would have no truck with issues like the legalization of cannabis, even though most people around her saw cannabis as a soft drug and not related to the problems of hard drug addiction. Possibly as an ex-nurse she had seen the effects firsthand of drug and alcohol abuse among men. As a bulwark of the PRO she encouraged several activist ex-prisoners to attend public meetings in parish halls and other venues of Dublin's inner city and campaign against drug pushing and drug taking. She talked to Tony Gregory and other key figures about the problem. Alas we now know that the drug trade became highly internationalised and the contract-killers moved heavily into the scene.

Margaret Gaj was one helluva guy. She made her mark on Dublin and Ireland. She could lash out at charlatans and ideological intruders that she sometimes met along the way during various social campaigns. As a former member of the ILP in Scotland she distrusted ideology and was all for practicality. She fell out with some fellow campaigners, and there were sad feelings. But in her cups and among sincere small groups of people she was an intelligent and sensitive listener. I feel better for having known her.

by SLH Mon Jun 27, 2011 11:44

"Farewell then, Mrs Gaj, you made a major difference to the life of our city and our country, and your many grateful customers and friends (generally the same thing) unite in their grief and in conveying deepest sympathy to your nearest and dearest."

From Deaglán de Bréadún in the Irish Times today
http://www.irishtimes.com/blogs/politics/2011/06/27/a-w...ence/

by Jane Tue Jun 28, 2011 09:45

Whoever said it, hers was a life well lived.

I don't beleive I ever had a conversation with Margaret that didn't challenge me on accuracy, logic or principles - her opinions were always worth considering. That is not, of course, the same as always agreeing, but disagreement was honored too.

Good bye to a great woman, neighbour and citizen.

by Margaret's Grandaughter Wed Jun 29, 2011 00:11 megret55 at yahoo dot com

As Margaret's grandaughter, I thank you for your kind words.

by Hilary Wed Jun 29, 2011 01:30

Possibly Margaret Gaj's last public appearance was a short while ago at the launch of Crummey v. Ireland, a ghosted autobiography of amazing community worker and activist, Frank Crummey, who helped Noel Browne and Margaret Gaj on several campaigns, especially the STOP campaign to end corporal punishment in the schools of Ireland. Frank was a dear friend and ally of Margaret Gaj. Scroll down at this link for a few snaps showing Mrs. Gaj with her friend and ally, Nell McCafferty, and others.

The Irish Times photo showing her behind the counter of her restaurant is the way most of us who mourn her departure would like to remember her.

http://www.londubh.ie/?p=1521

by SLH Wed Jun 29, 2011 01:52

The book 'Crummey v Ireland' was co-authored by Frank Crummey and Anne Stopper.
Anne Stopper had previously written 'Mondays at Gaj's" about the formation of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement.

by Alun Sat Jul 02, 2011 06:38

Rosita Sweetman, author of a 1972 book titled On our Knees, has a fairly detailed Obit on Margaret Gaj in today's Irish Independent. Ironic thing is that in the 1970s and other times Irish Independent editorial policy would have been to withold support from or actively oppose many campaigns that Margaret sympathised with.

Link: http://www.independent.ie/obituaries/the-matriarch-who-....html

The Irish Times today also has an Obit, with less details.

by SLH Sat Jul 02, 2011 16:08

Link to Obituary in Irish Times today, Saturday 2nd July 2011
'Restaurant owner and left-wing campaigner'