Papal honour for Ballina native

Papal honour for Ballina woman


A BALLINA woman has been honoured by Pope Benedict XVI. The Pope has conferred the honour of Dame Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great on Dr Margaret Downes.
Dr Downes, nee Gavin, originally from Ballina, is currently chairwoman of St Mary’s Parish Pastoral Council, Haddington Road, Dublin. She received the award in recognition of her work for St Mary’s and the Dublin Diocese during the last 40 years.
The Archbishop of Dublin, Dr Diarmuid Martin, made the conferral at St Mary’s Church on Haddington Road last week.
Dr Downes, born into a large family in Ballina, is a chartered accountant having studied at UCD and trained under Russell Murphy. Following a period in London, she returned to Ireland and became a pioneering female in the business world. She was the first-ever female member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Ireland; its first female president; the first female partner in Coopers and Lybrand and the first female director of Bank of Ireland Limited.
Among her other vast achievements, she has also served as President of the European Federation of Accounting Bodies and chairwoman of Kilkenny Design and Bupa Ireland.
In 1977, she featured in the Irish Times series ‘Working Wives’ which detailed her life as a working mother to three children, then aged 13, nine and seven.
The papal honour of Dame Commander of the Order of St Gregory the Great has been bestowed on just three other Irish women since the order was created almost 180 years ago in 1831.