The late Susie Long will be honoured at the Labour Party conference in Kilkenny this weekend when she will be posthumously awarded the James Larkin ‘Thirst for Justice’ award.
The award will be accepted by Susie’s husband, Conor MacLiam.
Susie Long, who died in October 2007, will be honoured for the courage she displayed in her personal battle against cancer; the role she played in highlighting shortcomings in our cancer services; and for the her willingness to go public and talk about her own illness and experiences so that other cancer patients might not have to face the same shortcomings.
The Larkin Award was introduced in 2003 to mark the 90th anniversary of the 1913 Lockout and is named after the great trade union leader and joint founder of the Labour Party.
The award is presented at each Labour Party national conference to a person who has made an outstanding contribution in the area of justice or human rights.
Previous recipients have included Mary Martin, director of Women’s Aid; Adi Roche of the Chernobyl Children’s Project; Fergus McDaid, community anti-drugs activist; Fr Paul Byrne, former director of the Irish Episcopal Commission for Emigrants; and Colm O’Gorman, director of One in Four.
The award will be presented on Saturday night prior to the leader’s address by Eamon Gilmore TD.
