Trailblazing journalist and ‘Nationalist’ legend Margaret celebrates 90th birthday

MARGARET O’Rourke, formerly of Sycamore Road, Rathnapish, Carlow, who celebrated her 90th birthday last Saturday, 4 October, in St Fiacc’s House, Graiguecullen, was a trailblazer in Irish provincial journalism. She was the first woman to be appointed a staff reporter to a newspaper in the provinces.

The celebrations for the new nonagenarian began on Friday morning when John Hickey and his group of singers provided musical entertainment at St Fiacc’s. Then, in the afternoon, former work colleagues from The Nationalist, where Margaret spent all her working life in journalism, gathered to mark her historic age landmark.

Then, on the big day itself – Saturday – Margaret’s three daughters Ruth, Maria and Jane were joined by her son-in-law David, grandchildren Hazel, Jack and Rory, along with a small group of Margaret’s friends, at Maria’s home on Oak Park Road for another little party.

The former Margaret Perkins is a native of Dublin Road, Carlow. She received her education from the Mercy Order of nuns, across the road from her home. While Margaret worked for a short period in the Sugar Company offices, her career ambition was always aimed towards journalism.

In the mid-1950s, at the tender age of 19, Margaret approached Liam D Bergin, managing editor of The Nationalist, for a position, starting out by submitting various articles centred on buildings and events in the Carlow town area. Her persistence had its reward when she was appointed as a trainee reporter with The Nationalist.

With her appointment, Margaret was breaking through the glass ceiling that had seen Irish provincial journalism, up to that point, being an all-male domain.

The printer’s ink was firmly set in her family DNA as her dad, John Perkins, was a master compositor with The Nationalist.

Margaret may also have inherited her ambitious, independent gene from her mother Gertrude (Gertie) Perkins, the former Gertie Russell from the town’s Brown Street. Gertie was the proprietor of a recruitment agency known as Russell’s Registry, a local employment enterprise which was first established in 1900 by Margaret Russell, Margaret O’Rourke’s grandmother.

In her role as reporter, Margaret covered meetings of Carlow County and Urban Councils, all Carlow court sittings and, along with penning general news stories – local tragedies and triumphs – wrote a weekly column for the newspaper over a number of years.

She even strayed into the realm of sport in her early days in the job, cycling out to Carlow Golf Club to collect the weekly results from the Deerpark club!

Margaret spent 45 years working as a reporter, sub-editor and, for a short period, news editor – many of these alongside her late husband, Seamus, who served as news editor with responsibility for layout.

Margaret retired from the newspaper in September 2000, bringing the curtain down on a highly distinguished journalistic career.

A staunch trade unionist, she was a life-long, active member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ).

Margaret married Seamus O’Rourke in 1962 and they went on to enjoy more than 51 years of happy married life, up to Seamus’s passing in January 2014.

In 2019, she suffered the loss of her only sibling, her sister Dorothy McKinley – the sisters were deeply devoted to each other.

Margaret was fortified through her bereavements by the unstinting support of family, friends and wonderful neighbours.

Over the weekend, Margaret was the recipient of many messages of congratulations and good wishes – tokens of appreciation from her own community for a woman who contributed so much to the fabric of life in her native Carlow.

Go maire tú an céad mo chara dilís.