Nell McCafferty: A sublime ability to unearth the root of injustice

Twenty years later, I’m more inspired by her than ever. Her work, her passion, her unflinching commitment to social justice all make her one of the most impressive and important Irish journalists of our time.

Her ability to get to the very heart of any matter and to see, with great clarity, the truth at the centre of some of the greatest injustices of our times is what set her apart both as writer and activist.

Her reporting on political matters always found the personal entry-point, the detail that readers could relate to, the detail that transformed an issue from an abstract political topic into a deeply personal story.

Whether she was reporting on abortion or the church or the power structures of the guards or the judiciary, she found the human element that would resonate with readers and reveal the true importance of what and why she was writing.

Nell was also a founder of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement in 1970 and was part of the group of women who travelled from Dublin to Belfast the following year on the so-called ‘contraceptive train’ to buy contraceptives across the border.

She began the deeply unpopular and labour-intensive early work of chipping away at the foundation of inequality in Ireland.

Her journalism and activism made an impact and created measurable change. I’m grateful to her for the battles she and her peers fought so women and girls like me, and now my daughters, can live an easier and more equal life, and I’m sorry for the abuse she took for it.

Her investigative work on The Kerry Babies case was later published as a book A Woman To Blame: The Kerry Babies Case and revealed the horrific injustices at the core of that case, which has become a definitive strand of the shameful history of this country’s treatment of ‘unmarried mothers’.

That book, along with Nell’s autobiography, and a collection of her journalism are all still in publication today and on the shelves of most bookshops. I’d recommend you buy all of them.

This article was first published on March 4, 2023 as part of our International Women's Day coverage.