Mick Clifford: Charlie the newshound resembled Roy Keane before a big game

Charlie Bird managed to combine the outstanding qualities of a huge drive and purpose with a high capacity for empathy and enormous courage. He was one of a kind

Charlie Bird arriving at the High Court for the closing arguments in the libel action against him by TD Beverly Cooper Flynn in 2001.

Charlie Bird was a generous journalistic colleague. He was also an irrepressible life force. We weren’t close friends but I got to know him over the years and from this vantage can recall three specific occasions that said something about the man, his talent and his humanity.

We became friendly when I reported on the libel trial in 2001 that grew out of the story he and George Lee had broken about offshore activity by the National Irish Bank. (RTÉ won the case).