'She wrote about the most important stories of her time': Activist and journalist Nell McCafferty dies 

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

She died in the early hours of Wednesday morning at a Co Donegal nursing home, her family said.

The former Irish Times journalist, originally from Derry, was a prominent voice on women’s rights issues across the island of Ireland and in 1970 co-founded the Irish Women’s Liberation Movement.

Taoiseach Simon Harris has paid tribute to Nell McCafferty describing her as "fierce, fearless and fiery".

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

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.

"As one of the women who took the train in 1971, she 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.

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

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said Nell was an exceptional journalist and campaigner and the voice of an era who helped to bring major advancements in civil rights and women’s rights".

Deeply saddened at the passing of Nell McCafferty.

Nell was an exceptional journalist & campaigner - the voice of an era who helped to bring major advancements in civil rights & women’s rights. She made an enormous contribution to public debate in Ireland. (1/2)

— Micheál Martin (@MichealMartinTD) August 21, 2024

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.

“She was tremendously brave and courageous and she 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.”

The leader of the Irish Labour Party Ivana Bacik said she was “deeply saddened to hear of Nell McCafferty’s death at the age of 80”.

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 said on X.