Deceased journalist Brian Hutton fondly remembered by colleagues

Journalist and Irish Times contributor Brian Hutton, who died suddenly aged 46.

When Enda Kenny led Fine Gael to general election victory in 2011, it was historic for a number of reasons.

The fact that Fine Gael became the largest party in the Dáil for the first time in the party’s parliamentary history was one and — at the time — everybody wanted to interview Mr Kenny.

Brian Hutton, then a journalist for the Press Association (PA), spotted the then Taoiseach-to-be coming out of an emergency exit at Castlebar's Theatre Royal count centre.

Niall Carson, the PA photographer covering the election with Mr Hutton, recalled: “He was a bit apprehensive heading to the count centre, wondering who he would get.

“By pure chance and luck, Enda Kenny popped out to speak to someone just as we were arriving.

“At that stage, he hadn’t given any interviews and Brian went over and got him.

He was very pleased with himself because his exclusive was already on the news wires by the time he walked into the count centre.” 

It is with sadness now he recalls the 46-year-old father-of-one, who Mr Carson had known since 2006.

Derry-born Mr Hutton, who died suddenly last Saturday afternoon, had been PA (Ireland)’s deputy news editor for more than 10 years.

Previous to that he had worked as a reporter with the Belfast Telegraph, which he joined in 2003.

A sign of his professionalism was when he was once hit in the head with a brick while covering Orange Order marches in Ardoyne, north Belfast, but despite the injuries he sustained, he still managed to file his copy from hospital.

He left PA about four years ago to go freelance, working for papers including the Irish Examiner and The Irish Times, and to branch out into radio documentaries and podcasts.

Among those to pay tribute were President Michael D Higgins, who described him as “a fine journalist and a brilliant colleague”.

The Irish Times Northern Editor Freya McClements described him as "the best of journalists, the best of friends, and the best of men".

Cousin Laura Hutton, The Irish Times deputy picture editor, said he was “a born journalist and a great mucker”.

Irish Times news editor Mark Hennessey said: “We were all hugely fond of him at the Irish Times.

“Everybody on the news desk had immense respect for him.

He was the sort of reporter you could commission to do a job and then forget about.” 

Recalled as a softly spoken man, who was “wiser than his years”, Mr Hutton was a big music fan, and combined his love of music with his cycling.

“We used to spend a lot of time together in the same car on jobs around the country,” said Mr Carson, who lived near him in Dublin.

“If he wasn’t having intellectual conversations about any one of a huge number of books he had read, we would talk about music, holding debates like who was better — Bowie or Prince.

He also doted on his daughter Issy, and one of the last conversations we had was about her having broken her ankle and being in hospital.” 

Of his love for music, he added: “Brian wasn’t just a great one to encourage others to get up and sing at a party or function.

"Despite being quite a softly spoken and quiet man, he would get up too.

"He loved ballads and he was particularly fond of Luke Kelly.

“He also played the guitar and certainly seemed to know his way around one when he was up singing.

“He rarely smoked and lived quite a healthy lifestyle.

“As well as being into surfing, he also cycled a lot and even used to cycle to Electric Picnic from his house in Dublin.” 

One of his last jobs was covering the disaster in Creeslough, Co Donegal.

A garda brings flowers to the scene of an explosion at Applegreen service station in the village of Creeslough in Co Donegal. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Mr Carson said: “He knew the place like the back of his hand. He would have spent much of his childhood in Co Donegal.

He was very affected by that story and we had some very long chats about it.

"He was actually quite emotional, and it had got him thinking not just about his own mortality, but it also made him think about his daughter, Issy.

“I met him after the funeral Mass for Robert Garwe and his five-year-old daughter Shauna Flanagan Garwe.

“He was very upset and moved by that service, and I remember he wrote a very emotional piece about it later.

“He was very introspective about what had happened to those 10 people who died in that explosion.”