![\"Margaretta](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/74VRP5R257H3XN5OMCHLS4NY4Q.jpg\")
Margaretta D\u2019Arcy on her release from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin in 2014. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw\/The Irish Times <\/p>\nTributes have been paid to the activist and artist Margaretta D\u2019Arcy who died at the age of 91 on Sunday.<\/p>\n
A long-time anti-war protester, she was involved with the Greenham Common campaign, a British anti-nuclear movement which opposed bringing cruise missiles into Europe, and the Committee of 100 group, a British anti-war campaign set up by philosopher Bertrand Russell and others. <\/p>\n
D\u2019Arcy supported the Shell to Sea campaign in Co Mayo and was involved in the protests at Shannon Airport in 2014 over the opposition to the US military\u2019s use of the airport. She was found guilty of illegal incursion on a runway and received a suspended three-month sentence. <\/p>\n
She refused to sign a bond to uphold the law and stay away from unauthorised zones at Shannon Airport, her sentence was reactivated and she served 9\u00bd weeks at Limerick Prison and the D\u00f3chas Centre at Mountjoy Prison.<\/p>\n
She wrote a number of books including Tell Them Everything, Ireland\u2019s Guant\u00e1namo Granny and Awkward Corners, and plays such as Women\u2019s Voices from West of Ireland and Prison-voice of Countess Markievicz.<\/p>\n
Born in London, she was raised in Ireland. In 1957, she married John Arden, a playwright and novelist, who died in 2012.<\/p>\n
Margaretta D\u2019Arcy on her release from Mountjoy Prison in Dublin in 2014. Photograph: Nick Bradshaw\/The Irish Times <\/p>\n
D\u2019Arcy and Arden lived in Galway and she was a member of the Aosd\u00e1na, the Irish academy of artists. <\/p>\n
In 2024, she was one of the oldest candidates to run in the local elections for Galway City Council as an independent candidate.<\/p>\n
She told The Irish Times at the time, that she felt it was her year to put her \u201chat in the ring\u201d after years of activism. <\/p>\n
Her campaign slogan was \u201cmad, bad and dangerous\u201d.<\/p>\n
D\u2019Arcy had been approached to run by Sentient Rights Ireland, which advocates for animal rights, human rights and the environment.<\/p>\n
At first she said no, but after reading Paul Gillespie\u2019s article titled \u201cOverworked, older and mostly male: Ireland has Europe\u2019s weakest local government\u201d in The Irish Times<\/a> she changed her mind and said: \u201cI\u2019ll do my bit for women and diversity,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n