Women's Aid celebrated 25 Years of working on the issue of violence against women in Ireland in the Erin Rooms, Dublin Castle on May 24th 2000. The day highlighted the work that has been done by Women's Aid over the last 25 years, as well as the significant progress, which has been made on the issue of domestic violence in Ireland over the last 25 years. The challenges that lie ahead as Women's Aid enters the next millennium were also highlighted.

President Mary McAleese was the guest of honour, with other speakers including Garda Commissioner Pat Byrne, Dr Mark Doyle of Waterford Regional Hospital, Liz Kelly, CBE, Child and Woman Abuse Studies Unit, London University, Susan McKay, Sunday Tribune Journalist and author of the Sophie McColgan story, and Una McGuill of Women's Aid, Dundalk.

Many supporters, staff, volunteers, were joined by ex-staff and ex-volunteers to celebrate this important occasion in Ireland's social history. Also present were Garret FitzGerald, patron of Women's Aid and former Taoiseach; Minister Mary Wallace, Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform; Councillor Mary Freehill, Lady Mayor of Dublin; Egyptian Ambassador, Ashraf Rashed; Chief Justice Keane and Justice Frank O'Donnell; Joan Burton, former Minister of Justice and Social Welfare, and Women's Aid's founder and former Government member, Nuala Fennel.

After the speeches, guests perused the Women's Aid exhibition, which showed the changing nature of Women's Aid work over the last 25 years. From the letter in the Irish Times in 1974, which started it all, to the Women's Aid website which was launched in conjunction with the 25th festivities. There was also an exhibition of the arts project, what it means to be a volunteer in Women's Aid, and, to remind us of why there is still a need for Women's Aid 25 years on, a memorial to the 55 women murdered in Ireland in the last 4 years.