Tributes continue to pour in following death of Nell McCafferty

President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins has joined those paying their respects to the late Nell McCafferty, as tributes continue to flood in following the confirmation of her death, aged 80, on Wednesday morning .

"Nell McCafferty was a pioneer in raising those searching questions which could be asked, but which had been buried, hidden or neglected," President Higgins said in an official statement.

"For example, Nell knew that standing behind the rituals of courts and unfortunate defendants, there was always a complex story which she had a gifted empathy to understand.

"Nell had a unique gift in stirring people’s consciousness, and this made her advocacy formidable on behalf of those who had been excluded from society. A defining feature across Nell’s life was such a fierce drive to tackle repression, poverty and authoritarianism wherever she saw it.

"As a writer and activist, including as a co-founder of the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement, Nell McCafferty played a vital role and leaves a true legacy in fighting for feminism and women’s rights across the island."

Elsewhere, fellow activist Ailbhe Smith took to social media to pay her own tribute to McCafferty, describing her as "Brilliant, fearless and passionate."

"Nell McCafferty ignited the fire of rebellion in me and my generation of women," Smith wrote on X (Twitter). "There was no one like Nell to stir us up to act against injustice and callousness."

Author Sinéad Gleeson also shared her tribute to X, praising McCafferty's for being "loud and uncompromising in an Ireland that hated women with opinions. "

Nell McCafferty’s voice was loud and uncompromising in an Ireland that hated women with opinions. Her journalism was ground-breaking (a rare female voice in Troubles discourse) her feminism absolute, her queer visibility a lifeline for LGBTQI people. RIP.https://t.co/Fwtr8ZoekD pic.twitter.com/JDMKfgJSGs

— Sinéad Gleeson (@sineadgleeson) August 21, 2024

In addition to tributes paid by Taoiseach Simon Harris and Tánaiste Micheál Martin, Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald described the journalist as "Talented. Feminist. Fearless," adding that "she lived and worked every day to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

"Most often, the powerful didn’t like it," McDonald said. "That’s how how she knew she was doing the right thing. Her writing and campaigning helped to change Ireland for the better."

Born in Derry, McCafferty graduated from Queen's University in Belfast before going on to study in France. She later became a freelance journalist working for various publications, including as a columnist for Hot Press.

She was founding member of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement and an outspoken advocate for social justice, becoming a prominent figure in various campaigns like Bloody Sunday, sex abuse scandals within the Catholic Church and the Kerry Babies cases.

Some of her published works include A Woman to Blame, on the Kerry babies case; The Armagh Women, which covered women prisoners and their hunger strikes in Northern Ireland and Peggy Deery: A Derry Family at War.