Island of Ireland 'a better place', says retiring Northern Editor Tommie Gorman 

RTÉ Northern Editor Tommie Gorman made his final report last night.

Tommie Gorman has said that the island of Ireland is full of hope in his final report as RTÉ’s Northern Editor.

For his final report, Mr Gorman spoke to the North’s First Minister and Deputy First Minister.

Arlene Foster, speaking about the border poll, said she didn’t believe people would engage in self-harm.

Michelle O’Neill added that it was important that the new generations don’t fight the battles of the past.

Signing off, Mr Gorman said the North was a “real, living, breathing” Ireland and it was “trying to work itself out”.

“When I think of the Derry I went to in 1980 and the Ireland I see now, North and South, it’s a better place. The killing has stopped.” 

He added that he thought the parties in the North and south were committed to making things work “and that’s the job I leave behind”.

He stated: “I still think it’s an Ireland that’s full of hope.” 

Mr Gorman has been praised for his work since announcing his retirement earlier this year.

Taoiseach Micheál Martin said last night that it was the end of an era and that Mr Gorman leaves behind “a powerful journalistic legacy”.

Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney praised Mr Gorman for his “impactful role” as a correspondent in Northern Ireland.

Your last broadcast tonight was realistic but hopeful, as ever. Good luck for the future.” 

Julian Smith, a former UK Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, hailed Mr Gorman as “a legend”.

“Tommie Gorman cared deeply about Northern Ireland and was not only a great NI journalist but hugely committed to its people and their lives.” 

Originally from Sligo, he joined RTÉ in 1980 and was Europe editor before moving to Belfast in 2001.

He interviewed Roy Keane after the footballer’s row with manager Mick McCarthy in the Republic of Ireland team’s Japan 2002 World Cup training camp on the island of Saipan.

Mr Gorman also tracked down poet Seamus Heaney on a Greek island after he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1994.

Some years later, Mr Gorman told the Irish Examiner: “Ever since my diagnosis, work has been the ultimate distraction.

“You can lose yourself in work; you can lose yourself in living.

“You need to engage in living.” He has chronicled the ups and downs of the peace process for two decades.

Earlier this year, RTÉ announced that Vincent Kearney was to replace Mr Gorman as Northern Editor.

In a statement at the time, he said: “Tommie Gorman will leave behind an amazing legacy, and huge shoes to fill. I am delighted to be the person to be given the opportunity to fill them.”

- additional reporting from PA