Nicholas Benedict Robinson

Dr Maeve Robinson, Family Planning Doctor and Educator, 2020

Oil on birchwood, 96 x 60 cm

This is a portrait of Dr Maeve Robinson, who became a family planning doctor in the early 1980s; the era of the Kerry Babies case, the death of Ann Lovett, a 15-year-old girl who died in child birth in 1984, and a general societal disapproval of family planning. For many years, Dr Robinson worked for women burdened by many children born in quick succession and who often suffered from poor health and poverty. She subsequently passed on her skills to family planning doctors throughout Ireland.

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