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    Interview with Geraldine O’Callaghan recorded online on 04/11/2024 & 23/04/2025; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0020

    Cite as: Beecher, Ruth (2026): Interview with Geraldine O’Callaghan recorded online on 04/11/2024 & 23/04/2025; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0020. Birkbeck College, University of London. doi: https://doi.org/10.18743/DATA.00000430

    Description

    Geraldine was born in 1960 in Dublin. She remembers happy summer holidays spent with the extended family in Tipperary and considers herself half ‘Dub’ and half Tipperary. She describes herself a quiet well-behaved girl who became more rebellious in her late teens. She disliked school, mainly because of the way it was run by the nuns and how some subjects were taught and recalls that the old-fashioned way Irish was taught made her hate the language well into adulthood. The pupils hated the story of Peig from the Blasket Islands.
    Her dislike of school led to Geraldine leaving after her Leaving Certificate and after a period at Secretarial School moving to an office job with a local firm. She recalls the work Christmas parties – formal affairs in hotel ballrooms and the drunken behaviour of some of the older men.
    Geraldine also recounts with affection her social life in Dublin with groups of friends; the bars visited and bands seen, laughing about how some were places that ‘your mother wouldn’t want you to go to’. Many of the stories about her life between 15-25 are recalled with humour, and some with sadness. She talks about valued holidays and friendships.
    She described having a loving, solid family; her father being lovely and having a great sense of humour and how he was unusual for the time in being very involved with his children and helping out around the home. Her mother was very practical and had the final word and dealt well with her teenage rebellion, including refusing to go to Mass. She tells of her mother and father’s deaths when she was her late twenties/early thirties and of her sadness that her mother never talked about her illness.
    After a long period working for the same company Geraldine describes how her life changed with a sudden decision to leave following a company merger and how this eventually led to a career in holistic medicine. This was followed by an unexpected return to further and higher education studying English and History. She reflects on her increasing confidence and maturity and the importance of sharing women’s stories.

    Previews


    1 - Audio Track interview with Geraldine O’Callaghan recorded online on 04/11/2024 & 23/04/2025; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0020 (0UNA-U1X0020XX-0001&2M0C.mp3)

    Collection Method

    Úna Gan A Gúna Irish Women’s Oral History Collective

    Interviews with a range of women born in Ireland during the twentieth century or those with Irish connections. The aim was to gather the stories, memories and opinions of Irish women born in each decade of the twentieth century, about their experiences between the approximate ages of 15 and 25. The sample was found simply through women with whom volunteer interviewers had a connection or through Irish organisations. Interviews were recorded and participants checked and approved the transcripts and recordings.
    See website https://unaganaguna.org/

    Data Objects

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    Metadata

    Dataset Title:

    Interview with Geraldine O’Callaghan recorded online on 04/11/2024 & 23/04/2025; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0020
    Creators:

    Beecher, Ruth
    Dataset Contributors:

    ContributionNameEmailORCID
    NarratorO'Callaghan, GeraldineUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
    InterviewerRodwell, PatUNSPECIFIEDUNSPECIFIED
    Subjects:

    Birkbeck Faculties and Schools > Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences > School of Historical Studies
    Keywords:

    Catholic education Teenage rebellion Secretarial work in 1980s Dublin music venues and bands Female friendships Mother’s illness and death Career change Alternative medicines Mature student
    Data collection method:

    Úna Gan A Gúna Irish Women’s Oral History Collective

    Interviews with a range of women born in Ireland during the twentieth century or those with Irish connections. The aim was to gather the stories, memories and opinions of Irish women born in each decade of the twentieth century, about their experiences between the approximate ages of 15 and 25. The sample was found simply through women with whom volunteer interviewers had a connection or through Irish organisations. Interviews were recorded and participants checked and approved the transcripts and recordings.
    See website https://unaganaguna.org/
    Collection period:

    FromTo
    20242025
    Temporal coverage:

    FromTo
    19602025
    Statement on legal, ethical, and access issues:

    The research proposal was ethically approved by the School of Historical Studies at Birkbeck, University of London.
    Depositing User: Ruth Beecher
    Date Deposited: 13 Jul 2026 09:12
    Last Modified: 13 Jul 2026 09:12
    Publisher: Birkbeck College, University of London

    Export / Share Citation

    Cite as: Beecher, Ruth (2026): Interview with Geraldine O’Callaghan recorded online on 04/11/2024 & 23/04/2025; Interview Accession No: 0UNA-U1X0020. Birkbeck College, University of London. doi: https://doi.org/10.18743/DATA.00000430

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