The Irish mother, who died aged 81 on October 28, 2025, became a feminist icon when she successfully overturned the ban on contraception

Ms McGee, known as May, died peacefully at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin on Tuesday, October, 28, 2025, surrounded by her family.

In August 2025, more than 50 years after making constitutional history, Skerries woman May McGee and her late husband Seamus were celebrated and honoured in their own community. Skerries Tidy Towns commissioned the installation in Floraville of a mosaic (above, May is pictured in front of the mosaic in August 2025) to celebrate May McGee’s groundbreaking Supreme Court victory in December 1973, which effectively legalised the sale and importation of contraceptives. The mosaic is by renowned Irish international artist Helen McLean.

“Mary ‘May’ McGee became a reluctant icon of Irish feminism when she and her husband Shay successfully took a Supreme Court case in 1973 against the State’s ban on contraception.” Irish Times, October 29, 2025