Róisín Ingle book launch hears of ‘different kind of courage’

Journalist Róisín Ingle displayed “a different kind of courage” when she wrote about her experience of having an abortion, columnist Fintan O’Toole said at the launch of her book yesterday.

About 100 people attended the launch of Public Displays of Emotion in Dublin. The book is a selection of Ingle's columns published in The Irish Times over the past 15 years.

O’Toole referred to how Ingle had written on Saturday about having an abortion during her 20s.

“It takes a different kind of courage to risk the affection that people have for you,” he said.

“There is an enormous affection and sense of connection people feel for Róisín. It does take something for someone to take that risk and say, ‘I have something to tell you’.”

He said the central theme of her columns was “imperfection” and her expression of that through the stories she told was “a gift for Irish society”.

Ingle said she was grateful for the support she has received since writing about her abortion. “It’s not about us,” she said. “It’s about all the women of Ireland.”