Irish Journalist & Feminist Activist Nell McCafferty Dies at 80

Renowned author, journalist, and feminist activist Nell McCafferty has passed away at the age of 80.

Her family announced her death, which occurred in the early hours of Wednesday at a nursing home in Co Donegal.

Originally from Londonderry, McCafferty was a former Irish Times journalist and a significant voice in women’s rights issues across Ireland. In 1970, she co-founded the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement.

Considered a trailblazer in journalism and a fearless social commentator, McCafferty authored several books and wrote for publications such as the Sunday Tribune and Hot Press.

“She changed the way that all of us who came after her wrote journalism and did journalism, because she went straight to people,” said Ireland’s Press Ombudsman, Susan McKay, paying tribute on BBC Radio Ulster.

McKay described McCafferty as “an absolutely wonderful journalist, a really ground-breaking journalist.”

She noted that before McCafferty and other brilliant women of her generation, ordinary people were rarely asked for their opinions in the media. McCafferty changed that narrative by engaging directly with working-class communities and bringing their stories to life.

McKay added, “She was tremendously brave and courageous and wrote about all of the most important stories of her time. It’s very, very sad that she has died, but she had been very ill for quite a number of years and wasn’t really in a position to appreciate life to the same extent as she had before.”

SDLP leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood described McCafferty as “a mould-breaker and establishment shaker.”

“She spoke truth to power like only a Derry woman could,” he said on X, formerly known as Twitter. “An icon for so many people across Ireland. Nell will be sadly missed, but her activism will endure.”

Leader of the Irish Labour Party Ivana Bacik expressed her sadness over McCafferty’s death. She described McCafferty as a “wonderful, fearless and unique feminist icon.”

Bacik added, “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 posted on X.

Earlier this year, the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, penned a piece in the Irish Times to commemorate McCafferty’s 80th birthday, praising her “enduring courage” as a writer.

He wrote, “Those who have had Nell as a friend and an ally are very fortunate in their being given the gift of experiencing humanity in all its possibilities and vulnerabilities, and delivered as she did it with a sense of humour that paid tribute to the authenticity of her Derry upbringing.”

Source: PA Archive, BBC Radio Ulster, X, Irish Times