The journalist and activist, who died at the age of 80, was described as “wild, fearless and fiery” and a feminist icon.

Nell McCafferty, who was born in Londonderry in 1944, was a founding member of the Irish women’s liberation movement and wrote for the Irish Times, among others.

She campaigned for the legalization of contraception in Ireland, including hold a protest where she and other women brought contraceptives by train across the border from Northern Ireland from Belfast to Dublin.

Her family said she died peacefully at her care home in Fahan, County Donegal. Her funeral will take place on Friday.

She was the author of several books, including A Woman to Blame, about the The case of the Kerry babies and “The Armagh Women,” about a hunger strike by republican prisoners in Armagh Prison in 1980.

Irish President Michael D. Higgins said Mrs McCafferty was “a pioneer in raising those profound questions that could be asked but which had been buried, hidden or neglected”.

She had “a unique gift for raising people’s awareness, and through this she advocated so impressively for the interests of those who were excluded from society,” Higgins said.

Irish Prime Minister Taoiseach Simon Harris described her as “wild, fearless and fiery.”

Mr Harris said her “passion and anger did not come out of the blue, but were laser-focused on denouncing inequality and injustice”.

“She had no patience for fools but was kind and warm to many. Her wit and Derrynian way of speaking made her impossible to ignore,” he added.

First Minister Michelle O’Neill said she was “a trailblazer in the truest sense of the word”.

Ms O’Neill said she was a “proud feminist and civil rights activist who used her voice to advocate for equality and fight injustices in our society”.

She said she was an important figure during the peace process and the Good Friday Agreement.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said she was “an extraordinary journalist and activist – the voice of an era that helped bring about great progress in civil rights and women’s rights”.

SDLP leader and Foyle MP Colum Eastwood described Ms McCafferty as “a reformer and establishment disruptor”.

He added that she would be “sorely missed” but said her “activism will continue.”

Kitty Holland, a journalist at The Irish Times and daughter of activist Eamonn McCann and lifelong friend of Ms McCafferty, said Ms McCafferty was “a big figure in my life, a big figure in journalism”.

“It is a great loss for people personally, a great loss for Ireland and for women,” she told BBC Radio Foyle.

“She could have very strong opinions at the dinner table,” said Ms. Holland, who “doesn’t enjoy fools.”

“She spoke her mind without apology,” Ms Holland said.

“It annoyed people, but it also made them sympathetic,” she added.

Irish Labour Party leader Ivana Bacik called her a “wonderful, fearless and unique feminist icon.”

Irish Press Ombudsman Susan McKay worked with Ms McCafferty in Dublin in the 1990s.

She paid tribute to an “absolute inspiration” who had a profound impact on Irish journalism.

“It has been a huge shift in the way we all do journalism in Ireland,” she said.

In an article published in the Irish Times In March, on the occasion of her 80th birthday, several personalities, including Mr McCann, paid tribute to Mrs McCafferty.

Mr McCann wrote: “For over half a century there has not been a significant struggle for women’s or gay rights in which Nell has not played a key role.”

In 1972, she interviewed the mother of Martin McGuinness when he was then in charge of IRA operations in Derry.

Government files released in 2024 reported by the Belfast Telegraph This includes the transcript of a 1994 conversation between McCafferty and officials at the British Embassy in Dublin.

The report of the meeting described Ms McCafferty as being “in close personal contact with the Sinn Féin leadership and in particular with Martin McGuinness and Mitchel McLaughlin”.

In 2004 published a treatise entitled Nellin which she describes her childhood in Bogside and her relationship with her long-term partner, the novelist Nuala O’Faolain.

McCafferty also spoke out against homophobia in the Catholic Church and Irish society.

In 2004, she stated on RTÉ’s Late Late Show that homosexuality was the last great taboo in Ireland.