Date: 2018

2018 Centenary of Women’s Suffrage €15 silver proof.

• Issued by: The Central Bank of Ireland
• Issue Date: 27th November 2018
  • Coin launched by Deputy Governor of the Central Bank of Ireland, Sharon Donnery at Leinster House, Dublin. She said:
    
    • “The Central Bank is honoured to launch this coin to commemorate this momentous event in Irish history, when Irish women won the right to vote. We are delighted to be able to celebrate and mark such a significant event 100 years on.”
  • An Ceann Comhairle, Seán Ó Fearghaíl TD said:
    • “This coin provides a historically resonant keepsake allowing us to reflect on the political progress of women over the last century. The suffragists and suffragettes of the early 20th century dreamed of a central role for women in the democratic life of Ireland. As the detail and beautiful design of this coin reminds us, these rights were not won easily, nor is this long journey towards equality complete.”
• Issue Limit: 3,000 pieces
  • Designer: Michael Guilfoyle (Ireland)
• Quality:
  • Proof strike
  • Sterling Silver 0.925 fine
• Weight: 28.28 g
• Diameter: 38.61 mm 
  

Description:

This 2018 €15 Silver Proof coin marks one hundred years since women in Ireland were granted the right to Vote. This marks a significant milestone in the path to equality in Ireland. It is the first Irish commemorative coin to feature colour since the Special Olympics €5 coin of 2003.

It features the figure of a suffragette in the foreground while a line of marching figures in the background is a procession of women marching forward to represent the progress in equality from 1918 to the present day. They stride along a road painted in the colours of the suffragette movement in Ireland. Throughout 2018, the Oireachtas Vótáil 100 programme, held special events and commemorations:

• “The Votes for Women: Suffrage and Citizenship” Exhibition (Leinster House)
  • incl. artifacts and images of the Irish suffrage movement.
• “Countess Constance Markievicz” Exhibition (National Gallery of Ireland)

In the November 1918 General Election, Countess Markievicz became the first woman elected as a MP to the UK House of Commons, though she never took her seat at Westminster.

• Instead, she joined the revolutionary first Dáil in 1919, becoming the first female TD
• She then became one of the first women in the world to hold a cabinet position as Minister for Labour from 1919 to 1922.

Other Irish Commemorative Proof Coins in this Series: