It was never a condom train. We were never going to give control of our sexuality to men. - Nell McCafferty

About Nell McCafferty

Nell McCafferty (28 March 1944 – 21 August 2024) was an Irish journalist, playwright, civil rights campaigner and one of the founders of the Irish Women's Liberation Movement in 1970. She wrote for The Irish Press, The Irish Times, Sunday Tribune, Hot Press and The Village Voice. On 22 May 1971, along with over 40 other women, McCafferty was involved in the so-called "Contraceptive Train" episode, which travelled from Belfast in the North to Dublin, in an attempt to import prohibited "contraceptives" (in reality, mostly hundreds of packets of Aspirin painkillers) into the Irish Republic. It became an international embarrassment for the authorities; such an action potentially carried a prison sentence at the time.