Pro-life activist Nora Bennis is laid to rest

PRO-LIFE campaigner Nora Bennis was ‘heartbroken by the problems in society’, her funeral Mass in Limerick city was told yesterday.

The 78-year-old mother-of-four died following a short illness, surrounded by loved ones in hospital, last Monday. Despite unsuccessfully contesting three Dáil elections and one European election, she gained respect from her political peers as a formidable opponent.

She founded Women Working at Home and the Irish Mothers Working at Home Association in the 1990s following the X Case, when the State took an injunction against a 14-yearold pregnant teenager to prevent her having an abortion in the UK. Following the 1995 divorce referendum, she set up the National Party, later renamed the Christian Democrats.

Mrs Bennis’s funeral took place at Our Lady of the Rosary Church, Ennis Road.