Margaret Gaj

Margaret Gaj, née Dunlop (1919 – 26 June 2011) was a Dublin restaurant owner and activist.

Life

Margaret Dunlop was born in Edinburgh in 1919 to Irish parents.

As a pacifist she joined the Red Cross as a nurse during the second world war. During her time as a nurse she met Polish soldier, Boleslaw Gaj, and they married. He was working as an electrician with the RAF, after escaping from Poland.

At the end of the war Margaret and Boleslaw moved to Ireland. She later set up a restaurant initially in Molesworth Street but then in Baggot Street: the restaurant later became famous as a meeting place for Irish left-wing activists.^[1] She had two sons Wladek and Tadek.

She was a founder member of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement.^[2] In the 1960s she became involved in the Dublin Housing Action Committee along with other progressive and left wing activists. Other campaigns she was involved in were Irish Voice on Vietnam, Reform (against corporal punishment in schools), anti-drug campaigns, and the Prisoners rights organisation(PRO) which she founded along with Gerry O'Callaghan and now Labour TD Joe Costello.^[3] She was a member of the Irish Labour Party for a time, and Noel Brownes Socialist Labour Party.

She died aged 92 on 26 June 2011.^[4]

References