Corrigan (or Corrigan-Maguire), Mairead (1944– )

Northern Irish peace activist born in Belfast. She shared the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1976 with Betty Williams for their founding of the grassroots ‘Community of Peace People’ organization, which aimed to foster reconciliation between the Roman Catholic and Protestant communities in Northern Ireland and end sectarian killing.

In August 1976, Corrigan and Williams instigated the peace initiative after witnessing the death of Corrigan's sister's three children in a car crash caused by a shoot-out between troops and republican terrorists. Under the name ‘Mothers for Peace’, they began to circulate petitions calling for an end to all violence in the province. The initiative soon became a mass movement, attracting many thousands to public rallies. The two activists shared the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize, but disagreements led to Williams leaving the organization in 1980.