Tugann an scéim scoláireachta urraim do Mháire Nic Shiubhlaigh (1883 -1958), aisteoir bunaidh Amharclann na Mainistreach agus ceannasaí i gCumann na mBan i Monarcha Brioscaí Jacob le linn Éirí Amach 1916. Bhí Máire (née Mary Elizabeth Walker) ina fostaí i gComhairle Contae na Mí, áit ar oibrigh sí mar leabharlannaí brainse i mBaile an Lígh sna 1950í. Ghlac sí páirt in Éirí Amach na Cásca 1916. Chaith sí an chuid is mó den am sa bhunurláir istigh i monarcha Jacob agus bhí sí i gceannas ar dheonaithe Chumann na mBan. D’ullmhaigh sí béilí freisin. Bhí Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh (Mary Walker) ina haisteoir bunaidh in Amharclann na Mainistreach agus ba í an chéad phríomhaisteoir mná ann. Ar oíche na hoscailte sa bhliain 1904, rinne sí páirt Kathleen Ní Houlihan. Bhí lucht féachana agus na léirmheastóirí faoi gheasa ag Máire sa bhaile agus thar lear. I measc a lucht leanúna bhí na Piarsaigh, an Chuntaois Markievicz, Maud Gonne, Synge, Plunkett, MacDonagh, agus John B. Yeats. Tá portráid di a rinne John Bulter Yeats sa bhliain 1904 ar crochadh i nGailearaí Náisiúnta na hÉireann. D’fhoilsigh garnia léi, Dave Kenny, a cuimhní cinn, The Splendid Years, cuntas pearsanta ar roinnt de na himeachtaí – agus de na daoine – a raibh tionchar acu ar stair na hÉireann.
Tá na scoláireachtaí atá ar fáil do dhaltaí atá ag freastal ar scoileanna DEIS ainmnithe in ómós do Mháthair Cholm Cille Mac Giobúin (1875 – 1961) agus Máire Ní Raghallaigh: -
Máthair Cholm Cille Mac Giobúin - Rugadh Maria Gibbons i mBaile na gCros, Contae na hIarmhí. Cuireadh oideachas orthi féin agus a ceathrar deirfiúracha i gColáiste Loreto, an Uaimh. Chuaigh a deartháireacha James agus Edward leis an tsagartacht. Chuaigh Maria leis na siúracha Loreto sa bhliain 1906 agus ghlac sí an t-ainm ‘Columba’. Bhí a deirfiúr Katherine pósta le Séamus O’Doherty, ball de Chomhairle Mhíleata Bhráithreachas Phoblacht na hÉireann (IRB) sa bhliain 1906 agus bhí sé ina cheannasaí gníomhach ar an Ardchomhairle nuair a athbhunaíodh í i ndiaidh Éirí Amach na Cásca. Sa bhliain 1916 chum Columba roinnt dánta a léirigh spiorad na gluaiseachta Poblachta. Rinneadh bailéad clúiteach as ceann díobh ‘Who Fear to Speak of Easter Week?’
Bhí Máthair Gibbons ina tacadóir diongháilte den ghluaiseacht athbheochana teanga. Bhí sí ina príomhoide ar Choláiste Loreto, an Uaimh ar feadh os cionn 50 bliain agus bhí sí ar fheabhas maidir le heolas a roinnt lena cuid daltaí. Ba chara pearsanta é Éamon De Valera ar feadh na blianta fada, agus nuair a fuair sí bás sa bhliain 1961, scríobh an Irish Press go tháinig an Mháthair Oirmhinneach M Columba Gibbons ‘ó chlann a raibh ról tábhachtach aici maidir le hidéil na náisiúntachta Éireannaí a scaipeadh’. Dúradh fúithi go ndeachaigh sí isteach sna mná rialta mar ghairm agus go raibh claonadh nádúrtha chun an phoblachtachais inti.
Maire Ní Raghallaigh - Rugadh Máire Ní Raghallaigh sa sráidbhaile Droim Conrach i dtuaisceart Chontae na Mí sa bhliain 1867. Ba mháistir scoile áitiúil agus údar é athair Mháire, Patrick Reilly, a scríobh The Rural Harp: Poems & Lyrics, National, Pathetic and Humorous (1861), agus rugadh eisean gar don sráidbhaile Balnavoran in 1825. D’aistrigh an teaghlach go Baile an Bhairéadaigh i dtuaisceart Chill Dara in 1877, áit a gceapadh an bheirt tuismitheoirí ina bpríomhoide i Scoil Náisiúnta Chluain Guaire. Chuaigh Máire i mbun oibre mar chlóscríobhaí ar an Nás thart ar 1886, ceapadh í ina rúnaí ar chraobh an Náis de Chonradh na Gaeilge i mí an Mheithimh 1900 agus bhog sí go Baile Átha Cliath timpeall 1906. Chaith sí a saol ag obair ar son na Gaeilge, bhunaigh sí siopa leabhar Gaeilge ag 87 Sráid Dorset agus ba ise an t-aon ghníomhaire mórdhíola amháin le haghaidh leabhar a chuir Conradh na Gaeilge i gcló. Toghadh chun Choiste Gnó Chonradh na Gaeilge í ag Ard-Fheis na heagraíochta i Luimneach sa bhliain 1938.
Nuair a fuair sí bás, scríobhadh sa Meath Cavan Herald go raibh ‘an-cháil ar Iníon Uí Raghallaigh i ngluaiseacht na Gaeilge, arbh é mian a saoil, agus rinne [sí] fónamh den scoth don chúis náisiúnta le linn am na coimhlinte’. Luadh ina tuairisc bháis sa Meath Chronicle go raibh sí ina ‘ball de Chumann na mBan le linn na troda Angla-Éireannaí agus go raibh sí ina dlúthchara de chuid a lán ceannairí Éireannacha, ar thug sí tearmann dóibh’.
The scholarship scheme honours Máire Nic Shiubhlaigh (1883 -1958) a founder actress of the Abbey Theatre and a leader of Cumann na mBán in Jacob’s Biscuit Factory during the 1916 Rising. Máire (born Mary Elizabeth Walker) was also an employee of Meath County Council where she worked as a branch librarian in Laytown during the 1950’s. She took part in the Easter rising of 1916, spending most of her time in the ground-floor rooms of Jacob's factory, where she took charge of the Cumann na mBan volunteers and prepared meals.Maire Nic Shiubhlaigh (Mary Walker) was a founder actress of the Abbey Theatre and its first leading lady. On its opening night in 1904, she played Kathleen Ní Houlihan. Maire’s beauty and talent captivated audiences and critics at home and abroad, and her admirers included the Pearse brothers, Countess Markievicz, Maud Gonne, Synge, Plunkett, MacDonagh, and John B. Yeats. A portrait, painted by John Butler Yeats in 1904, hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland. Her grandnephew, Dave Kenny, published her memoirs, The Splendid Years, her first-hand account of some of the events — and people — that shaped Irish history.Dave Kenny launched the Meath County Council ,Máire Ni Shiubhlaigh , Gaeltacht scholarships in 2018.
Scholarships available for pupils attending DEIS secondary schools are named in honour of Mother Columba Gibbons (1875 – 1961) and Máire Ní Raghallaigh: -
Mother Columba Gibbons - Born Maria Gibbons in Castlepollard, County Westmeath, she and her four sisters were educated at Loreto Navan. Her brothers James and Edward entered the priesthood and Maria took her vows as a Loreto sister in 1906, taking the religious name ‘Columba’.Her sister Katherine was married to Seamus O’Doherty, a member of the IRB’s Military Council in 1916 and acting-head of the Supreme Council when it was reconstituted after The Rising. During the 1916 period Columba composed a number of poems which epitomised the spirit underlying the Republican movement. One of those became the well-known ballad ‘Who Fear To Speak of Easter Week?’
A staunch supporter of the language revival movement, Mother Gibbons was principal of Loreto Navan for more than 50 years and possessed a rare gift for imparting knowledge to her pupils. Éamon De Valera was a personal friend for many years, and when she died in 1961 the Irish Press recorded that Rev Mother M Columba Gibbons was ‘a member of a family which played a notable part in the spread of the ideals of Irish nationhood’. It was said of her that she was a nun by vocation and a republican by inclination.
Máire Ní Raghallaigh - born in the north County Meath village of Drumconrath in 1867. Máire’s father, Patrick Reilly, the local schoolmaster and author of The Rural Harp: Poems & Lyrics, National, Pathetic and Humorous (1861), was born near the village of Balnavoran in 1825. The family moved to Barrettstown in north Kildare in 1877 where both parents were appointed principals at Clongorey national school. Máire began working as a typist in Naas around 1886, was appointed secretary of Naas Conradh na Gaeilge branch in June 1900 and moved to Dublin around 1906. She dedicated her life to the Irish language movement, established an Irish language bookshop at 87 Dorset Street and was the sole wholesale agent for books printed by the Gaelic League. In 1938 at the Gaelic League congress in Limerick, she was elected to the committee of an Coiste Gnótha of the organization.
The Meath Cavan Herald noted on her death that ‘Miss Ní Raghallaigh was very well known in the Irish language movement, which was her life’s ambition, and [she] also rendered sterling service to the national cause during the troubled times’. Her obituary in the Meath Chronicle noted that she was ‘a member of Cumann na mBan during the Anglo Irish struggle and a close friend of many Irish leaders, whom she sheltered’.