Mural to Nell McCafferty woman of ‘extraordinary courage, intellect, and humanity’ unveiled

The ‘Goodnight Sisters’ mural honouring journalist and feminist activist, Nell McCafferty, has been unveiled in Derry’s Bogside.

The brainchild of local woman, Shá Gillespie, the Lisfannon Park mural was painted by the Derry’s Peaball graffiti collective and was, fittingly, unveiled on Saturday - International Women’s Day. 

Tributes to Ms McCafferty, or ‘Our Nell’ as she was affectionately known, were led by  Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins.

His message was read by community activist Goretti Horgan. President Higgins began by sending his best wishes to all those gathered to “celebrate the life and legacy of Nell McCafferty” who he described as "a woman of extraordinary courage, intellect, and humanity".

"Sabina and I were privileged to be friends of Nell Mccafferty and to have experienced her enduring strength, courage, warmth and humour. She will be missed by us all,” said President Higgins.

"Nell was a fearless journalist, an unrelenting campaigner, a pioneer in raising those searching questions which could be asked, but which had been buried, hidden or neglected. Indeed, this is one of the aspects which was most remarkable from the very beginning of her work.

"For example, Nell knew that, standing behind the rituals of courts and unfortunate defendants, there was always a complex story for which she had a gifted empathy to understand. In her column, 'In the Eyes of the Law', she opened people's eyes to the operation of the District Court and its interaction with those who found themselves before it.

Nell McCafferty mural unveiled in Derry's Bogside

'A woman of extraordinary courage, intellect, and humanity' - Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins

"A woman of deep empathy and great humour, 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 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,” said President Higgins.

Unveiling of the Nell McCafferty 'Goodnight Sisters' mural in Derry's Bogside - @DerryNow digital report thread.

A mural was unveiled on Saturday in the city (#InternationalWomensDay2025) honouring the late Nell McCafferty - journalist & feminist.

Leading the tributes to 'Our…

— Catherine McGinty (@CathMcGin_Tea) March 10, 2025

Introducing Nell McCafferty’s niece, “Nell incarnate”, Muire McCallion to speak, Derry author and journalist, Aoife Moore, who was bean a’ tí for the event, said she could not think of a person who “honoured Derry more than Nell McCafferty and who deserves this mural more".

“It is worth putting out that there are not enough murals of women in Derry, so long may this last,” she added.

Laughing, Muire McCallion remarked this was the first time since she was 10 years old, her Auntie Nell had been taller than her.

"She has never had small girl energy to be fair," said Ms McCallion.

"Over the last few months since Nell left us - she would murder me for saying that, Nell died, she didn't pass away, she didn't slip into the next room, our Nell died. And it was a big loss. 

"But what we have been really touched by as a family has been the outpouring of love and of testimony and of gratitude that people have given out since we lost her.

"Nell McCafferty, was a Derry girl when it was dangerous to be a Derry Girl. When it was a target on your front and your back, my Auntie Nell stood tall and  proud and  said, 'I am from Derry and Derry is wonderful'.

“She stood against Free Derry Wall fighting for Civil Rights, fighting for equality and  fighting for justice that was in short supply in this city and remains in short supply across the world, no more than today, International Women's Day,” said Ms McCalion, who added that she was touched privileged and proud Nell McCafferty is once again hanging around a gable wall in the Bogside."

Introducing Bernadette Devlin's appreciation of Nell McCafferty, Aoife Moore said: "As you can imagine her piece about Nell is very honest and forthright”.

Ms Devlin recalled how, although the two got off to an "inauspicious start", she loved Nell McCafferty.

She wrote: [At our first meeting I was] left in no doubt she was singularly unimpressed by the phenomenon that was Bernadette Devlin. It was an inauspicious start.

"When the chips were really down, the one thing we were both sure of was that sisterhood mattered. She has inspired her own generation of young women to be brave and Bolshie in being themselves and in supporting each other and she blazed a trail for the next two generations of women,” said Bernadette Devlin, who described Nell McCafferty as a “genius of a journalist and a writer”.

“She took no prisoners. Her criticism could be as forensic as her empathy was deep and quietly kind. She was as funny as she was fierce and more fragile than you would think. 

“As I write, I can see her with that slow, quizzical, half smile, half smirk that might indicate she found the whole idea quite embarrassing but okay maybe even about time, just don't slabber. 

"You didn't make it easy Miss McCafferty but you were worth it. I'm glad that I knew you. I love you and I'll miss you,” concluded Ms Devlin.

Derry politician, activist and journalist Eamonn McCann recalled how he first met Nell McCafferty "running up and down Rossville Street, playing football in Meenan's Park".

She was one of the people who shaped my life,” said Mr McCann. “I knew Nell from the bottom of my heart, from the core of my being. I at once greatly admired her and was also quite afraid of her, and I wasn't the only one.

"I will never forget her. Nell McCafferty will be with me all the rest of my days.  And after 70 years, all I can say really is, 'Goodnight sister'. You made Derry, you made Derry women, you made us all better people than we would have been. Derry is a better place for having had Nell McCafferty in it. Goodnight sister."

Irish academic, feminist and LGBTQ activist, Ailbhe Smyth said she still felt “the loss of Nell”.

“Nell was for me, for so many women of my generation, a true hero. The woman who lit the fire in our feminist firmament as a firebrand of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement and then Irish Women United. 

Nell was instrumental in changing what it means to be a woman and in changing Ireland,” said Ms Smyth.

Reading an excerpt from a piece she had been commissioned to write about Nell McCafferty for International Women’s Day, Aoife Moore, said every single young woman standing at the unveiling had benefited because of Nell McCafferty.

Nell McCafferty mural unveiled in Derry's Bogside

'A woman of extraordinary courage, intellect, and humanity' - Uachtarán na hÉireann Michael D Higgins

She wrote: "International Women's Day has always been a source of criticism and rightly so. 

"It is a day for speeches from politicians who say gender equality must be a priority but then they do nothing when our sisters are killed week in and week out.

"Nell McCafferty, Our Nell as she was known here, would say this side of International Women's Day, frankly, is 'shite' and she'd be right.

"It is hard at times to remember how much Ireland has changed when everything seems so grim. Aisling Murphy, Katie Simpson, Ana Kriégel and Derry city's own Caroline McGrellis, some names of them you might know and some you don't but this is because the murder of women at the hands of men has become a sad fact of life for many and it is talked about as if it has no root cause and no solution.

“Nell [spoke out] When it wasn't popular and it wasn't profitable, she called out what was wrong. Her outspoken beliefs, including her support for the Republican cause, made her a pariah in high society Ireland. 

‘Mural For Nell’ set to grace the Bogside’s People’s Gallery

Ms McCafferty died in August last year at the age of 80

"She was proud of the part she played in the Battle of the Bogside and she was as comfortable throwing masonry at the British army as she was in Dáil Éireann. There is a part of Nell McCafferty in every Irish woman who does her part for the most vulnerable, who stands up and speaks out, even when her voice is trembling. 

“I hope I get to grow up like Nell McCafferty and I hope you do too. Goodnight sisters," said Aoife Moore.

Plaaque at the bottom of the 'Goodnight Sisters' celebrating Nell McCafferty.

Concluding the unveiling, Nell McCafferty's friend, veteran Derry activist Eileen Webster sang the iconic feminist anthem 'Bread and  Roses'.