Mary Manning and Sinead O’Brien

Dunnes Stores cashier Mary Manning knew little about apartheid when, in 1984, at the age of 21, she refused to register the sale of two Outspan South African grapefruit under a directive from her union. She was suspended and nine of her co-workers walked out in support. They all assumed they would shortly return to work. They didn’t. Instead they became the central figures in a prolonged strike and boycott that captured world attention, a dispute waged at considerable financial and emotional cost to themselves. Striking Back: The Untold Story of an Anti-Apartheid Striker is Mary Manning’s story, told with the help of Sinead O’Brien. Mary and Sinead talk to Catriona Crowe.