On 19 July 1984, Mary Manning, a shop worker in the Henry Street, Dublin outlet of Dunnes Stores, refused to handle the sale of grapefruit from South Africa.
When Manning and shop steward Karen Gearon continued to refuse to handle South African produce, they were suspended and ten IDATU members working in the store went on strike.
[3] The strike lasted until April 1987 when the Irish government banned the import of South African goods.
[5] Mandela said that the strikers demonstrated to South Africans that "ordinary people far away from the crucible of apartheid cared for our freedom"[4] and helped him keep going when he was in prison.
[6] A plaque, presented by South African President Thabo Mbeki, commemorating the action was unveiled in Dublin in June, 2008, and a street has been named after Mary Manning in Johannesburg.