Journalist and feminist activist Nell McCafferty dies aged 80

Born in Derry in 1944, she spent much of her childhood in the Bogside area of the city.

After finishing secondary school, she went on to study arts at Queen's University Belfast.

She was a founding member of Irish Women’s Liberation Movement (IWLM), established in Dublin in 1970.

The following year, she and her fellow IWLM members travelled to Belfast in order to protest the prohibition of the importation and sale of contraceptives in Ireland. The incident, which attracted extensive publicity at home and abroad, became known as the Contraceptive Train.

While the IWLM would disintegrate a few years later, McCafferty would remain involved in the Irish feminist movement, and much of her work focused on women's rights, feminism, inequality, and social justice. 

Over the course of her long and distinguished career, Ms McCafferty wrote for, amongst others, The Irish Press, The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Hot Press, and The Village Voice.

In her memoir Nell, published in 2004, she recounted her life as campaigner for women’s rights, her part in the Northern Ireland civil rights movement.

Her notable works include A Woman to Blame, which covers the Kerry babies case, The Armagh Women, which covers female republican prisoners and their hunger strikes in Armagh Gaol, and Peggy Deery: A Derry Family at War, which traces the life of Peggy Deery, who was shot and seriously wounded but not killed on Bloody Sunday in 1971.

In 2016, she received an honorary doctorate of literature from University College Cork (UCC) for what the institution described as "her unparalleled contribution to Irish public life over many decades and her powerful voice in movements that have had a transformative impact in Irish society, including the feminist movement, campaigns for civil rights and for the marginalised and victims of injustice."

'She changed the way all of us who came after her wrote journalism'

Ireland’s Press Ombudsman, the journalist Susan McKay, paid tribute to Nell McCafferty.

“She was an absolutely wonderful journalist, a really ground-breaking journalist,” Ms McKay told BBC Radio Ulster.

“She changed the way that all of us who came after her wrote journalism and did journalism, because she went straight to people.

“You know, if you look back at journalism before Nell and indeed before some other brilliant woman of her generation, ordinary people were never asked for their opinion. They were written about by gents who thought that they knew how best to analyse society.

“Nell went straight into working class places, she talked to people who had experienced real hardships and afflictions in their lives, and she brought their voices alive."

Ms McKay said Ms McCafferty was "tremendously brave and courageous" and wrote about "all of the most important stories of her time".

“And it’s very, very sad that she has died, but she had been very ill for quite a number of years, and, you know, wasn’t really in a position to appreciate life to the same extent as she had been before.”

Taoiseach Simon Harris described Ms McCafferty as a "fierce, fearless and fiery" journalist who had a "laser-like focus on calling out inequality and injustice".

"If she was in the room or in the debate, you knew about it," he said in a statement. 

"Her passion and wrath was not scattergun, it had a laser-like focus on calling out inequality and injustice. 

"She suffered no fools but had a kindness and warmth for many. Her wit and Derry turn of phrase made her impossible to ignore."

The Taoiseach said that, as one of those involved in the Contraception Train in 1971, Nell McCafferty "set in train an unstoppable wave for equality and a changing of Ireland for the better". 

That change has not yet reached its conclusion but it would be nowhere if it wasn’t for warriors like Nell.

"In an Ireland trying to emerge from the shadows and find who it was, Nell McCafferty was one of the people who knew exactly who she was and wasn’t afraid to enter every battle for gay and women’s rights. We all owe her a great debt for this."

He added that Nell McCafferty had left Ireland "a much better place than she found it and she played her part with spirit and style".

Micheál Martin described MS McCafferty as "an exceptional journalist and campaigner – the voice of an era who helped to bring major advancements in civil rights and women’s rights".

The Tánaiste said she made an enormous contribution to public debate in Ireland.

“In addition to her brilliance as a writer, activist and feminist, Nell brought great warmth and humour to every engagement," he said.

“She made a difference. Sympathies to her family, friends and former colleagues.”

Labour leader Ivana Bacik said she was “deeply saddened" to hear of Nell McCafferty’s death.

She described the journalist as a “wonderful, fearless and unique feminist icon”.

“It was an honour and a privilege to have known Nell, and to have had such fun with her over the years. Deep sympathies to all her family and friends,” she wrote in a post on X.

Chernobyl Children International's (CCI) voluntary CEO, Adi Roche, who was a close personal friend of Ms McCafferty, said she was heartbroken at the news. 

"A courageous trailblazer and advocate for civil rights and social justice, Nell made Ireland a better place and a safer place, especially for women and girls. We as a country owe her a debt of gratitude," Ms Roche said.

"I will always remember Nell as an authentic and fearless woman, never shying away from difficult issues, speaking for the oppressed and voiceless of our time. I am so grateful that myself and Ali Hewson were able to visit with Nell at the beginning of the summer to express to her how much she meant to us. She will be sorely missed and deeply mourned."

Ms McCafferty was a dedicated supporter of CCI over the last three decades. She travelled to the Chernobyl-affected regions with CCI on humanitarian aid convoys and volunteered on CCI building programmes.