Our mum, Margaret Keane passed away 29th July 2018. She was buried in St Giles Church of  England churchyard, in Exhall, Coventry. We were denied an Irish only Inscription on her headstone by a Church of England Consistory Court Judge, their reasoning that the Irish inscription without English translation would be 'incomprehensible' for 'English speaking Coventry' and 'Given the passions and feelings connected with the use of Irish Gaelic there is a sad risk that the phrase would be regarded as some form of slogan or that its inclusion without translation would of itself be seen as a political statement.', The full judgement can be seen here.

The Message to Margaret (M2M) campaign originated during lockdown to raise awareness and profile of the impending court case and to galvanise support for the appeal and our family from the Coventry Irish Community and the wider Irish Diaspora  in their battle to be allowed to write an inscription in the Irish language without a translation on our mum's gravestone.

With an all Irish, all female legal team working pro-bono we were eventually successful in our appeal, the team included Caoilfhionn Gallagher KC, Mary-Rachel McCabe and Caroline Brogan, previously Irwin Mitchell with intervention from Conradh na Gaeilge i Londain.

The appeal was successful on the grounds of racial discrimination and that the original ruling was flawed.

The campaign was supported by politicians across England and Ireland, with the support of the Labour Party Irish Society.

Fight for answers into Margaret's death.

At the same time as fighting the Church of England, the family were fighting a private case against University Hospital Coventry and Warwickshire into answers for the unexplained death of Margaret. After 5 years that saw the family finally submit a complaint to the ombudsman it was ruled that had Margaret received better care, she would still be alive, and her death was an avoidable death.

The full report can be read here.