Nell McCafferty (1944-2024)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nell McCafferty (1944-2024) was an Irish journalist, a civil rights activist and a feminist. She wrote articles for the Irish Times and several other publications.

 

According to many observers, she was a fearless and strong voice in Ireland.

 

She tried to speak for those who had no voice. She tried to speak for those who had little or no power:

 

People who were poor and people who were oppressed, in particular women.

 

Some readers loved her for doing this, while other readers hated her. They wanted her to shut up. But she could not be silenced.

 

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During the years after World War II, Irish women did not have many rights. Irish women did not have much control over their own lives.

 

Irish society was, in many ways, controlled and dominated by the Catholic Church:

** No access to contraception

** Homosexual activities were regarded as a crime

** No divorce

** No same-sex marriage

** No abortion

 

But during the 1980s and the 1990s, things began to change, and in the twenty-first century, the changes continued:

** Contraception was legal from 1980. In the beginning, there were some restrictions, but they were removed in 1985

** Homosexual activities were legal from 1993

** Divorce was legal from 1996

** Same-sex marriage was legal from 2015

** Abortion was legal from 2019

 

Nell McCafferty played an important role in the popular movement which supported these changes.

 

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In 1984, she followed the developments of the Kerry Babies Case. She wrote a book about the case which was published in 1985.

 

The Kerry Babies case was an important moment in the history of modern Ireland. Many people - especially women - began to question the authority and the power of the Catholic Church because of this case.

 

The influence of the Catholic Church was greatly undermined because of the way in which the government handled this case.

 

Around the year 2000, Nell McCafferty began to write her memoirs. The book of memoirs was published in 2004, when she was 60. She lived to be 80.

 

REFERENCES

 

A Woman to Blame:

The Kerry Babies Case

By Nell McCafferty

(1985)

 

Nell

By Nell McCafferty

(2004)

 

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The Irish journalist

Nell McCafferty

(1944-2024)

 

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Out of Innocence

This historical drama 

about the Kerry Babies Case 

premiered in 2016

 

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