Ciara and Alexander Dempsey, residents of Clogher, graduated last week from the Open University with 2:1 honours degrees in law.

Ciara became a mother at age 16 and gave birth three weeks before her GCSE exams. She faced stigma related to young motherhood and left school. Between 2018 and 2020, she lost three second-trimester pregnancies. During the Covid-19 pandemic, she enrolled in the law degree programme. She studied while raising children, one with autism, and managing fibromyalgia and a pregnancy with hyperemesis gravidarum.

Ciara worked as a student partner in educational research at the Scholarship Centre for Innovation in Online Legal and Business Education. She facilitated philosophical discussions with primary school children. She now pursues a Master’s degree in Philosophy and chairs the SDLP Fermanagh and South Tyrone branch.

Alexander grew up in poverty in Scotland. He moved to Northern Ireland with Ciara. He completed the law degree while working full time and supporting the family. He has started a Master’s degree in History.

The couple from Clogher aims to demonstrate that education can interrupt family cycles of hardship.