The concert hall of Cork City Hall resounded with thunderous applause and cheers on Thursday afternoon as the freedom of the city was bestowed upon Mary Crilly, the founder and CEO of the Sexual Violence Centre Cork.

Accepting the award, the highest honour a city can bestow upon a citizen or eminent guest, Ms Crilly said she was doing so on behalf of survivors of sexual violence, and the Dublin native said she was very proud of her adoptive home.

By voting unanimously to grant the award, Ms Crilly said, Cork City Council was being true to the city’s motto, “A safe harbour for ships” and was demonstrating that Cork is a safe harbour for victims of sexual assault.

Ms Crilly said many people who had supported, and who had been supported by, the centre over the years felt the award was for them, and she described the day as special to survivors of sexual violence in Ireland.

The ceremony, which was punctuated by at least half-a-dozen standing ovations, took place at a special meeting of Cork City Council, chaired by Deputy Lord Mayor, Councillor Mary Rose Desmond, to confer the freedom of the city upon Ms Crilly.

Among the approximately 250 guests gathered at City Hall were Ms Crilly’s partner, her daughters Sarah and Niamh, family, friends, and many people who have been part of the centre Ms Crilly helped to found four decades ago.

Ms Crilly revealed that she is “supposed to be working on a three-year plan” to retire as CEO when she is 70, but she finished her speech with a reassurance that she would continue her work as a campaigner and advocate, warning “I’m not going anywhere, so watch out world”.

Enrolled in the city's Roll of Freedom

The historic ceremony began with Mary Crilly entering the concert hall, accompanied by the Deputy Lord Mayor and Cork City Council Chief Executive Ann Doherty, walking behind the assembled city councillors and mace-bearers Sean Finn and Noel Kearney.

Ms Crilly was enrolled in the city’s Roll of Freedom “in recognition of her unstinting support and advocacy for survivors of sexual violence over four decades” and “her tireless work in raising awareness of its prevalence, encouraging two-way dialogue with younger people, and working with government, statutory and voluntary agencies to change and influence social policy”.

The Sexual Violence Centre Cork CEO is noted for her work in the areas of sexual violence, domestic violence, sex trafficking, female genital mutilation and stalking, and she continues to work tirelessly to eliminate sexual violence and to change attitudes and victim-blaming in society.

Ms Crilly’s work varies from supporting victims in court, or at the Sexual Assault Treatment Unit, to visiting schools and colleges, to working with government, statutory and voluntary agencies to change and influence social policy.

'Truly an outstanding person'

Taoiseach Micheál Martin, who had wished to be in City Hall for the ceremony, sent his apologies, and in a video message described Ms Crilly as “truly an outstanding person who has contributed so much to life in Cork, and indeed to our country.

“For over 40 years, Mary has worked with and supported victims of male violence against women,” Mr Martin said. 

“She has pioneered new initiatives and new approaches, and fundamentally changed society’s response to male violence against women.” 

The Taoiseach said Ms Crilly always advocated from the victim’s perspective, and she had made an enormous contribution to the lives of thousands of people, especially women, in Ireland.

In her speech, Deputy Lord Mayor, Mary Rose Desmond noted that Ms Crilly had begun her work in an Ireland where sexual and domestic violence was downplayed, where marital rape was not a crime, and where women and girls were still being sent to Magdalene laundries and mother and baby homes.

Ms Crilly, who moved to Cork in 1977 as a recently separated mother of two young children, founded in 1983 what was originally the Cork Rape Crisis Centre, and such was the conservatism of the times, Cllr Desmond said, that its office over the Quay Co-Op was raided by the Garda Special Branch.

Cllr Desmond said Ms Crilly’s extraordinary resilience and fortitude had driven her work and the work of the Cork Sexual Violence Centre for almost 40 years.

“Not only have thousands benefitted from this work and dedication, but she has driven societal change in the way that sexual violence is now dealt with in this country,” the Deputy Lord Mayor said.

“That Cork is recognising this remarkable woman with the freedom of the city is so very fitting and a proud day for Mary and for the city.”

A specially commissioned piece of poetry, ‘This Poem is a Zone of Sanctuary’, written in honour of Mary Crilly, was read at the ceremony by its author, poet Paula Meehan.

A joyous musical interlude featured the Defence Forces Band of the Southern Command providing a jaunty, upbeat rendition of ‘A Little Help from My Friends’, and Cork-based soul and blues singer Karen Underwood, accompanied by pianist John O’Brien, delivering soaring, mesmerising versions of ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ and ‘Feeling Good’.

Ms Underwood described the honour of singing at the ceremony “by far the greatest achievement” of her career, and when Ms Crilly led those assembled in a standing ovation, Ms Underwood embraced her and lifted her off her feet.

Awarding the Freedom of the City dates from the 14th century in Cork, and Ms Crilly joins recent recipients Mary Robinson, John Hume, Sonia O’Sullivan, Roy Keane, and Mary McAleese, as well as the likes of Charles Stewart Parnell, Douglas Hyde, Éamon de Valera and John F. Kennedy.