A suitable commemoration in honour of the late Laura Brennan is fully deserved, members of the Ennis Municipal District have said.
Speaking at Tuesday’s meeting of the Ennis MD, Cllr Pat Daly called on the local authority to recognise the contribution of “a national hero” to Irish life. “She has made young people aware of the HPV vaccine and has done extraordinary work. I would hope the next Council would remember her with a plaque or a statue, I hope she would be acknowledged in the future,” the Fianna Fáil councillor.
Mayor of Ennis, Cllr Clare Colleran Molloy was in agreement. “That is an excellent suggestion, I fully support it”. She sits on the Council’s Commemoration Committee and was keen to see a special meeting held to discuss Daly’s suggestion.
Hundreds of mourners attended a mass of remembrance for the Ennis woman less than a month ago. Despite a terminal cancer diagnosis, Laura campaigned tirelessly over the past 19 months to encourage young women to get the HPV vaccine. She appeared in a number of health promotion videos using her voice and telling her own story about how she, as an ordinary young woman, developed the illness. The Health Service Executive confirmed there had been an increase of 20% in the uptake of the HPV vaccine in the past two years to 80%.
