View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. Archive content
June 17, 2004updated 22 Nov 2022 1:40pm

Mary Holland: journalist and women’s rights campaigner

By Press Gazette

Mary Holland, who has died in Dublin after a long illness at the age of 67, was a dominant figure in Anglo/Irish reporting for more than three decades.

In the late 1960s, in a series of vivid reports for the Observer, she was the first journalist to draw attention to the coming crisis in Northern Ireland.

She subsequently followed all of the twists and turns of the story, not only for the Observer but for the New Statesman, for Weekend World on Televisionand latterly as a columnist in the Irish Times.

Although she was sometimes portrayed as a republican sympathiser, her intelligence, compassion and integrity made her trusted by all sides in the Irish conflict. Not only did she dissect the political machinations with great skill, but she also brought out the human suffering involved.

Mary Holland began her journalistic career rather incongruously as a fashion writer on Vogue and joined the Observer as fashion editor in 1964.

Three years later she was switched to news reporting after alerting her editor David Astor to the seriousness of the Ulster situation.

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

Her politics were said to have been radicalised through her relationship to Eamonn McCann, a left wing Irish activist, with whom she had two children.

She became a prominent campaigner for women’s rights in Ireland, especially over abortion and divorce.

She played an important role in helping all parties in the Irish dispute – in London, Belfast and Dublin – to understand each other’s perspective and especially in bringing the Ulster Unionists and Sinn Fein together in the political process.

She had an award-winning scoop in the Good Friday agreement and died disappointed that the peace hopes it raised had not been achieved.

On her death, leaders of all factions in Northern Ireland paid tribute to her insight and compassion and John Hume, the former SDLP leader, described her as “one of the outstanding journalists of the twentieth century.”

By Donald Trelford – former editor of the Observer from 1975-93

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network