Mary Reid

Mary Reid (25 April 1953 – 29 January 2003) was an Irish activist, socialist and poet.

Biography Reid was born in Monaghan to Plunkett and Patricia Reid. Her parents ran a grocery shop in Pettigo, County Donegal. The shop was bombed in 1973 through a loyalist car bomb. The family were not killed. Reid was educated in St Louis convent secondary school in Monaghan before going on to study history and politics at University College Dublin. After graduating with an Arts degree, Reid went on to study law in Trinity College Dublin and later gained two master's degrees in rural development from University College Galway and creative writing from the University of Lancaster.

Reid spoke five languages, fluently in French and Irish and conversational German and Spanish. During her time in UCD, Reid got involved with the Official Irish Republican movement. Upon the group's split in 1974, Reid joined the Irish Republican Socialist Party and became their education officer in 1977. She edited The Starry Plough in 1978–9. Reid worked as a campaigner for the status of paramilitary prisoners and the elimination of the Special Criminal Court. She resigned from the journal in 1979, traveled to France on a false passport, and became a campaigner for political refugees in Paris.

As a poet, Reid wrote in both Irish and English. She had an interest in the history and folklore of Lough Derg, and in feminist spirituality. She underwent a number of pilgrimages. She was compiling a collection of poetry for publication with Cathal Ó'Searcaigh when she died.