Croagh Patricia Annual Pilgrimage Ignored By Sexist Media

CALLS for a more representative and inclusive approach to covering Irish hills, mounds and mountains has been called for after the annual pilgrimage to Croagh Patricia was virtually ignored with the media preferring to lavish the male summit of Croagh Patrick with the lion’s share of coverage.

“Every year there’s a pilgrimage on Croagh Patricia but you wouldn’t know it from reading the papers or watching the news,” campaigner Fidelma Hughes said of the Mayo peak within a stone’s throw of Croagh Patrick.

“Irish mountains are viewed and celebrated through a selective patriarchal prism so Patricia is ignored. Only last week a hundred people died on her but the media don’t want to hear about it. Oh, but when someone breaks a nail on Croagh Patrick, they extend the Six One news by 9 hours to cover it. We even killed a few hikers ourselves to drum up some coverage. Nothing!” added Hughes.

Hughes called for more coverage and attention to be paid to those ill-prepared people who choose to get lost, dehydrated or injured on female-named mountains including Bernadette Bulben in Sligo, Knockgirl in Cork, Mount Brandy in Kerry and the Sugar Lumps in Wicklow.

“The media can deny it all they want but even Mount Etna can only get into the news when she’s erupting, and I could write a dissertation on why that’s problematic in itself too,” concluded Hughes.

However, despite the calls for greater coverage of female mountains, due to the current situation the Irish insurance market finds itself in, the entire outdoor portion of Ireland may be forced to close citing a lack of insurance cover and current levels of injury payouts.