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2FM presenter Helen Galgey wore a custom gown listing the names of eight women killed in Ireland in 2026 at the Hayu STELLAR InstaStar Awards, using her red carpet moment to highlight the country's crisis of violence against women and her own survival of an abusive relationship.
Helen Galgey, a presenter with the Irish radio station 2FM, used her appearance at this year's Hayu STELLAR InstaStar Awards to draw urgent attention to the ongoing crisis of violence against women in Ireland.
Walking the carpet in a custom-made gown created by SWL Designs, Galgey had the names of eight of the nine women murdered in the country during 2026 stitched into the fabric of the dress itself. Speaking to STELLAR magazine, she explained the deeply personal motivation behind the garment, noting that the year was only in its ninth month when the death toll had already climbed so high.
She revealed that another woman had been killed just two weeks before the event, leaving no opportunity to add her name to the design, a detail she described as speaking for itself about how rapidly the figures keep rising. The names featured on the dress were Scarlett Faulkner, Linda Costello, Milena Ostojic, Yveta Donovalova, Masuma Sohrabi, Noreen Daly, Adina Constantin, and Jamey Carney.
A ninth name, Jady Cristine Pereira Rosa, who died in August, was mentioned separately as the victim Galgey was unable to include due to time constraints. Beyond the symbolic weight of the names, Galgey framed the project as an act of survival and testimony. She disclosed that she had once been in an abusive relationship in which her partner nearly took her life, recalling that the only reason she survived was because he eventually removed his hands from her neck.
She described carrying a profound sense of survivor's guilt, haunted by the unanswerable question of why she lived while other women did not, and why such violence continues to occur with such regularity across the country. Galgey emphasised that the dress was designed to be impossible to ignore or reinterpret. Once the photographs circulated, the names could not be edited, downplayed, or taken out of context by media coverage.
She wanted the message placed front and centre, acknowledging the many organisations, grieving families, and dedicated journalists who continue to fight for the cause, while stressing that their efforts are still not enough. She insisted that the public should feel genuine shock at the scale of the tragedy and that even one such death in a year should be considered unacceptable.
Describing the current situation as insanity, Galgey positioned her red carpet moment as both a personal reckoning and a broader call to action, urging greater awareness, accountability, and cultural change in response to the epidemic of fatal violence against women in Ireland
Helen Galgey 2FM Hayu STELLAR Instastar Awards Violence Against Women Ireland
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