Mary Holland

Who was Mary Holland?

Mary Holland was an Irish journalist who specialised in writing about Ireland, and in particular Northern Ireland. Born in Dover but raised in Ireland, she married a British diplomat, Ronald Higgins; they lived in Indonesia, but the marriage was eventually annulled.

Originally working in fashion for Vogue magazine and then The Observer. She came to prominence as one of the first British journalists to report on the rise of the Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association and became an increasingly prominent commentator on the affairs of the region.

In 1977 Conor Cruise O'Brien was appointed editor-in-chief of the paper. O'Brien was a writer and politician, who served as a government minister in the Oireachtas. He was often criticized for his uncompromising opposition towards "physical force Irish republicanism", and his actions to that end during Liam Cosgrave's tenure as Taoiseach were labelled as censorship by some. Shortly after starting as editor, O'Brien sent a memo to Holland:

Holland subsequently left the Observer and joined The Irish Times as the Northern Ireland correspondent.