Nell McCafferty, The Irish Journalist And Campaigner, Dies At 80
Nell McCafferty, a famous Irish journalist, author and campaigner died at 80, early this morning today, confirmed by the family.
Nell McCafferty died at a nursing home in County Donegal today.
(Also read: Paul McGlade- One Of Northern Ireland’s Brilliant Bigwigs- Died At 69)
The Irish journalist was born in Derry’s Bogside in 1944. Out of the six siblings, she was the first one to enter politics, particularly at the time of the civil rights movement.
She earned her degree from Belfast’s Queen’s University. She went on to study further in France afterwards. She is referred to as Irish feminism’s voice.
McCafferty became a journalist at a very young age, in her 20s. She wrote various books; the best-selling ones include ‘Nell’, ‘The Best of Nell’, ‘A Woman to Blame’, ‘The Armagh Women’ and ‘In The Eyes of the Law’.
Since her initial days in journalism, she was noticed for her work in the Irish Times and as a freelance journalist in Dublin. Her ground-breaking reports in Dublin district court made waves in the national news and media.
She was one of the fearless and outspoken advocates for women’s rights, people who faced injustice and those who were poor. She is known as a prominent founder amongst the rest of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement.
The campaign in which she and other women carried contraceptives to demonstrate their support for the legalisation of contraception in Ireland is her most audacious so far. The contraceptives were taken to the border by train via Northern Ireland, from Belfast to Dublin.
Other well-known efforts that helped keep Nell McCafferty in the public eye include Bloody Sunday, the Kerry Babies cases, and crises involving sexual abuse within the Catholic Church.
McCafferty did not hesitate to speak about homophobia in the Catholic Church and the entire Irish society, she strongly expressed her condemnation by saying it is the last great taboo in Ireland.
She has worked as a journalist for a number of magazines, including Hot Press, Sunday Tribune, and The Irish Times. She frequently served as a panellist on several radio and television shows.
University College Cork granted her an honorary doctorate in literature in 2016.
Remembering Nell McCafferty…
Taoiseach Simon Harris remembered her as a “fierce, fearless and fiery” lady. He further added, “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 First Minister expressed her condolences by thinking of her as a firewoman, saying she was a “trailblazer in every sense of the word”. Michelle O’Neill remarked that she was one of those few campaigners who put her wits and voice for the betterment of society in every possible way. She always stood to fight for the injustices in the society, Miss O’Neill added.
McCafferty has been a figure of inspiration for many people during her life. One of such people, her lifelong friend and Irish Times journalist, Kitty Holland expressed her grief at the news of her demise. She said, “She was a huge figure in my life, a huge figure in journalism”.
She went on to say that her loss would create a huge darkness in her life and the people who knew her as she had given all her life to the Irish people and their struggles. She mentioned that her absence would remain a “huge loss to Ireland and to women”.
