Tributes paid to award-winning photographer after fatal crash

Photographer Michael O'Neill who has died in a motorcycle crash in Dublin

Tributes have been paid to an award-winning photographer and motorcyclist who died on Saturday following a collision involving a tractor-trailer in Dublin.

Michael O’ Neill was a well-known and much-respected photographer working for many years in Ireland.

The accident happened at around 10.50am on the Old Airport Road, in Collinstown.

Mr O'Neill was brought to the Mater Misericordiae University Hospital following the crash where he was later pronounced dead.

Irish Examiner chief photographer Dan Linehan, who is also director and vice president of Press Photographers Ireland, said: "Mick would always give me a ring to enquire about a news story when coming to Cork. I met him recently while covering the Michael Gaine story in Kenmare.

"He was a brilliant photographer and he showed me a recent picture which I thought was the best news picture taken this year. He had great pride in his work and won a recent award at the press photographers Ireland 2025. Most of all he had a wicked sense of humour which was appreciated by all his colleagues in the media."

Irish Times security and crime editor Conor Lally posted on social media: “He was excellent at his job, reflected in all the awards he won with The Star. He really was one of the good guys.” 

Irish Mail on Sunday Editor Robert Cox told Extra.ie at the weekend: “‘Anyone who knew him, worked with him, or even worked beside him for a rival, knew him as a true gentleman, who was a brilliant journalist.” 

Crime and defence editor with the Irish Mirror Micheal O’ Toole posted on social media saying: “There was nobody who came close to him. He travelled all over Ireland and the world doing a job he loved and excelled at, one which came naturally to him.

“I have never seen any media professional as gifted as Mick at talking to people, at making them feel at ease in the most stressful of situations, at connecting with them, essentially.”