Nell McCafferty: Feminist and Republican
Anne Conway
25 August 2024
Nell McCafferty
The death of Nell McCafferty, as is the way with many Irish radicals, was smothered in a wave of hypocrisy as she was elevated to sainthood by enemies who had always opposed her and by former friends who had stepped away from feminism and republicanism to join the establishment.
Nell was a pioneer of the Irish women's liberation movement of which she was a founding member. She became a household name in the 70’s and 80’s for her outspoken views on women rights and her support for civil rights in the north. She is best known for travelling to Belfast in May 1979 on the ‘contraception train’ returning with condoms and pills at Connolly station to a thunderous welcome from supporters. At that time contraception in the 26 counties was illegal.
She was an activist, journalist and author. As a court reporter she brought the pervasive inequality and injustice of Ireland to the fore and made her mark as a campaigning journalist. She was also a staunch supporter of the campaign to win political status for republican women political prisoners in Armagh jail in the 1980’s.
Nell was banned from appearing on radio and television for expressing Republican sympathies under Section 18 of the Broadcasting Act which covered incitement to violence and which had not been previously invoked. The ban was subsequently relaxed to cover live broadcasts only. This attack on Nell occurred against a background of court rulings prohibiting two Dublin women's clinics from giving abortion information. At that time Section 31 of the Broadcasting Act banned Sinn Fein including its elected representatives from the public airwaves.
However, it was women who at the time suffered more censorship than any other section of Irish society. Section 31 covered the airwaves while censorship of abortion information covered the whole of the mass media and beyond, forcing the issue of abortion underground and to the backstreets. Nell was one of the signatories of100 people who signed a declaration for the group Defend the Women's Clinics Campaign pledging to give abortion information to any woman who needed it.
Nell wrote about the Kerry Babies tribunal set up to investigate the behaviour of gardai towards Joanne Hayes. It exposed the brutality of the state and gardai towards Joanne.
Sadly, in later years, during the Repeal the 8th Amendment campaign Nell was influenced by the growing reformism in the socialist and Republican milieu and failed to advocate for a woman's right to choose.
In summary, Nell's legacy is that of a campaigning feminist and radical journalist who made her mark in changing the country for the better.