Nell McCafferty: journalist and feminist campaigner dies aged 80
Journalist, author and trailblazing feminist Nell McCafferty has died. She was 80. Her family confirmed her death this morning at a nursing home in Co Donegal. McCafferty was born in Derry in 1944 to Hugh and Lily McCafferty and grew up in the Bogside. She was among the early cohorts of Catholics admitted to Queens University in Belfast, where she studied arts and got involved in civil rights politics. She spent time teaching briefly before beginning her journalism career in The Irish Times.
‘I can’t really put it into words. I’m shaking so much’
Amid tears, cheers and waggling eyebrows from its host Dáithí Ó Sé, New Zealand’s Keely O’Grady has been named the 2024 International Rose of Tralee at the end of this year’s Rose of Tralee festival in Co Kerry.
“I can’t really put it into words. I’m shaking so much right now,” says O’Grady, a 21-year-old fourth-year student at the University of Canterbury, who is taking a degree in speech and language therapy. “What I’m most looking forward to is doing this for my country as an International Rose. We’ve only had two New Zealand Roses. It means a lot to me.”
News in Ireland
- Teacher shortage forces schools to scramble to fill gaps: “Principals joke with each other that this time of year is like The Hunger Games,” says Paula Mulhall as she continues preparations for new school year at Sandymount Park Educate Together in Dublin.
- Israeli arms companies can bid for Irish drones contract: Israeli arms manufacturers will be permitted to bid on a contract to supply drones to the Irish Army, despite Government “reservations” over previous purchases of military equipment from the country.
- GAA club pays €1m for five-acre playing fields in south Dublin: A south Dublin GAA club is paying €1 million for playing fields in one of the city’s most sought-after areas that have been conservatively valued at €10.5 million if they were zoned for residential housing.
- Girl (12) hospitalised with head injury after masked gang attacks house in Charleville: A 12-year-old girl has been hospitalised with a serious head injury following an attack on a house in north Cork on Monday.
- Weather forecast: Wednesday will be breezy and mostly cloudy with outbreaks of rain and drizzle spreading eastwards across mainly the northern half of the country through the morning. A band of heavier rain and strong winds will move in along the west coast later in the evening and will coincide with very high tides, which may result in coastal flooding and wave overtopping. Highest temperatures of 14 to 18 degrees. Tonight will be wet and windy for a time tonight as outbreaks of rain, heavy at times, spreads from the west accompanied by strong and gusty southerly winds, with gales in western and northwestern coastal parts. Lowest temperatures of 11 to 14 degrees.
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Q&A
- ‘My daughter’s friend, who is 15, is in a secret online relationship that is causing her to be fearful’: My daughter confided in that her friend (aged 15) has been in a relationship online with a boy who lives in an EU country. The girl in the relationship has been feeling strongly that she wants to leave and when she hinted at this, the boy reacted badly. He is threatening to end his life if she breaks it off with him and he has sent pictures of him self-harming so that she knows he is serious.
Opinion
- Kathy Sheridan Donald Trump doesn’t know how to compete against Kamala Harris
- Michael McDowell: It’s not fair to call those concerned about uncontrolled immigration ‘far right’
Business
- Are you being #influenced?: If you’re on social media, chances are the personalities you follow are flogging something. You’re drawn in by being able to eavesdrop on their lives through their photos, stories and reels, but what you’re trading in return is your eyeballs, your attention and ultimately your cash.
Sports
- Mickey Harte’s arrival brings excitement to Offaly: About 10 minutes before the news of Mickey Harte’s arrival in Offaly broke on Monday afternoon, the players were informed.
World
- ‘Time is of the essence’ as Blinken’s Middle East trip fails to secure ceasefire: Antony Blinken has ended his ninth visit to the Middle East since the war in Gaza began without securing a ceasefire deal.
- Sicily yacht sinking: Bodies of Mike Lynch and others may be trapped in vessel, coastguard says: British technology tycoon Mike Lynch and five others are feared to have died, with their bodies trapped inside a luxury yacht which sank in a tornado.
- ‘I see my belly, and my belly sees me. Yes, my diet has really gone belly up’: I just can’t seem to shake off this monstrous protuberance that has lately risen from the gaseous depths of my own overworked entrails. My belly.
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