PJ Mara was the most famous political spin doctor in modern Irish history, having played a leading role in Fianna Fáil for more than 30 years.

Charles J Haughey was born 90 years ago tomorrow. Biographer Ryle Dwyer examines his political legacy and the scandal that followed him

Two leading national newspapers have rejected claims they bought into the property boom, despite one purchasing a property website for €40m and another holding a “glittering” award gala for developers.

It was Ireland’s “best kept secret” that the economic bubble burst in summer 2006 not 2008, but the situation was effectively masked by politicians focussed on the 2007 general election and vested interests who did not want to break the silence.

An unhealthy culture of secrecy surrounds our civil servants despite the fact they are a valuable source of historical information, writes Ryle Dwyer

RTÉ presenter Bryan Dobson has questioned if the role of news anchor will exist in rapidly changing news environments.

There is chilling coincidence in the fact that within days of the death of Ben Bradlee, the great, liberal and inspirational American newspaper editor who brought down the corrupt president Richard Nixon by supporting good, old fashioned and don’t-name-your-sources journalism, that the European Court of Human Rights has ruled against The Irish Times in a benchmark case related to the whether journalists are obliged to name their sources or not.

Respected television news anchor Bryan Dobson has been appointed as an honourary lecturer at the University of Limerick.

In the past, Garda commissioners became implicated in what were largely political controversies, writes Ryle Dwyer

The Irish public has been left hanging when it comes to getting a full explanation about who knew what and when in the phone-tapping scandal of the 1980s, writes Ryle Dwyer.

In the midst of the talk of American bugging, Taoiseach Enda Kenny told reporters he operated on the basis that somebody was listening in on his telephone conversations. Of course, he has been in politics since the mid-1970s, when tapping was rife.

Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte has fired a shot across the bows of some of his Fine Gael colleagues in relation to reform of our privacy laws. Fine Gael ministers have been pushing the idea of statutory regulation of the media in recent months.

Tomorrow is the 30th anniversary of Charlie McCreevy’s sensational motion to oust the then taoiseach Charles Haughey. Ryle Dwyer examines the traumatic events

THE Irish Examiner’s reputation for cutting-edge design and great sports coverage was recognised yesterday when it scooped two of the top prizes at the inaugural National Newspapers of Ireland Journalism Awards in Dublin.

Women are castigated for acting like men in order to succeed, while men are prized for being ruthless, says Suzanne Harrington

KEVIN O’SULLIVAN has been named as the editor of The Irish Times, succeeding Geraldine Kennedy.

ONE of the most outstanding journalists of her generation, Geraldine Kennedy announced yesterday she is to step down as editor of the Irish Times.

Geraldine Kennedy is to step down as the editor of The Irish Times, it has emerged.

THE Irish people did not so much speak at the ballot box last week as scream their disapproval of the current government, and this was especially apparent around the capital.

THERE is considerable interest around the personalities in Kerry in the forthcoming election. Will John O’Donoghue get re-elected, will Michael Healy-Rae succeed his father, and will another Spring swap places with a McEllistrim?

THERE is considerable interest around the personalities in Kerry in the forthcoming election. Will John O’Donoghue get re-elected, will Michael Healy-Rae succeed his father, and will another Spring swap places with a McEllistrim?

STARS, film professionals and presenters paid tribute to veteran documentary maker and journalist Cathal O’Shannon during a ceremony marking his life in television.

Two Irish Times journalists have been ordered to pay all of the costs of their legal row with the Mahon Tribunal, despite winning their case.

THE man who is widely credited with shaping the direction of the Irish Times over the best part of the second half of the 20th Century – Major Thomas Bleakley McDowell – died earlier this week, aged 86.

IRELAND’S highest court yesterday threw out an order compelling two journalists to answer questions about an article uncovering payments to ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

Ireland’s highest court today threw out an order compelling two journalists to answer questions about an article uncovering payments to ex-taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

AT the centre of Irish politics for over three decades, veteran politician Máirín Quill was honoured with a civic reception last night ahead of her retirement from public life.

The Irish Times has announced pay cuts of between 5% and 20% for its employees.

A HIGH Court order requiring Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy and public affairs correspondent Colm Keena to answer questions from the Mahon tribunal about the source of an article on financial payments to former Taoiseach Bertie Ahern is “an impermissible restriction” on the right to freedom of expression, the Supreme Court was told yesterday.

A FIVE-JUDGE Supreme Court will hear on December 8 the appeal by Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy and public affairs correspondent Colm Keena against a High Court order requiring them to answer questions from the Mahon tribunal.

The late journalist and author Nuala O’Faolain was a steadfast friend and a woman of wit, grace and humour, mourners at her funeral heard today.

Indeed, should Cowen be worried? After all, Bertie anointed Albert Reynolds for the presidency in 1997.

THE editor of The Irish Times, Geraldine Kennedy, and the newspaper’s public affairs correspondent, Colm Keena, are to launch a Supreme Court appeal in a bid to prevent them having to disclose to the Mahon Tribunal the source of information about financial payments to Bertie Ahern during the early 1990s.

NEWS coverage of the departure of Steve Staunton as manager of Ireland’s soccer team was quite a spectacle. RTÉ was scathing about the supposedly “shambolic” way in which things were handled at the end.

WE ARE lucky to live in a country where the press has enjoyed circumstances that, by and large, allow it to do its job without hindrance or threat.

Two prominent journalists were today ordered by the High Court to testify before a tribunal on the source of a story about payments to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

THE Irish Times destroyed documents relating to an article disclosing that financial payments had been made to Taoiseach Bertie Ahern when he was Finance Minister in 1993 because it believed that was “the proper action” to take, the High Court has been told.

THE likelihood of Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy and journalist Colm Keena going to prison diminished greatly yesterday when no motion for committal to prison was brought by the Mahon Tribunal over the controversial Bertie Ahern “dig-out” payments story.

FORMER taoiseach Albert Reynolds allegedly got the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) to block developer Tom Gilmartin’s plans to acquire lands for a proposed shopping complex, the Mahon Tribunal heard yesterday.

After it was disclosed that Ben Dunne had paid for renovations to Michael Lowry’s house, Bertie said the “first duty of any minister is to the public whom he has been appointed to serve.

SEAN DOHERTY’s wife had a major role in his decision to drop the bombshell that Charles Haughey was fully aware that journalists’ telephones were tapped in the early 1980s, former government minister Máire Geoghegan Quinn has disclosed.

THE Mahon Tribunal has failed to identify who leaked a confidential letter that triggered the September political crisis involving Taoiseach Bertie Ahern.

AT the opening of the Cleraun media conference in Dublin last Saturday, Communications Minister Noel Dempsey was forceful in criticising The Irish Times for breaking the story about the money given to Bertie Ahern.

BERTIE Ahern said it was only “with the benefit of hindsight” that he realised his “misjudgement” in accepting money from friends.