Leading names in journalism cut their teeth with Northside People

IF WE were to visit the newsrooms of most major newspapers or media organisations in this country, chances are we’d bump into a few familiar faces.

Some of the most talented writers and broadcasters in Ireland first cut their journalistic teeth in the Northside People newsroom.

As we celebrate 25 years of local journalism, it’s a fitting time to pay tribute to those who helped make us what we are today.

Our first editor was Tim O’Brien who created the local news template that we follow to this day. Tim was among the small gathering of enthusiastic and talented people who set up Northside People to fill the void left in the market by the closure of Dublin Newspapers by the Irish Press.

It wasn’t long before Tim’s talents as a local newspaper man were recognised and he was soon offered a position as editor of Lifetimes – then owned by the Irish Times. Tim is now a long-serving journalist with the Irish Times.

Joe Lowry, from Glenageary, a graduate of journalism at the College of Commerce in Rathmines, replaced Tim as editor in 1988 and stayed with the paper until the early 1990s.

Since then, Joe has – among other numerous postings – worked in Somalia with aid agency Goal and for the past number of years has held senior media relations positions with the International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC).

Tony McCullagh, who originally joined the paper as a trainee reporter, succeeded Joe as editor in 1994. Tony continues to work with Northside People in his capacity as joint managing director and also holds the position of group managing editor.

Aside from his work here, Tony is an author with several books under his belt including (along with Neil Fetherston, another former Northside People editor) the Number 1 best selling book,

‘They Never Came Home – the Stardust Story’.

Neil Fetherston became the fourth editor of Northside People when Tony was appointed a director of the newspaper. Neil is also an accomplished author and has written a number of books, including the biography of Aslan singer Christy Dignam and what is considered to be the definitive account of the 1975 Miami Showband massacre.

Neil now edits our sister paper, Southside People, and he was replaced by one of our most versatile journalists, Pat O’Rourke, who still sits in the editor’s chair these days.

Pat brought his own dynamic to the role, infusing the content of the paper with a heady mix of sport (his specialist subject), local news and features.

Aidan Kelly, from Ballymun, was the first editor of the Northside People west edition, a role he made his own for many years before moving to America in 2006.

Jack Gleeson, who we will always credit with bringing us kicking and screaming into the technological age, replaced Aidan as editor. With amazing prescience, Jack first established the Dublin People website back in 1998 and continues to hold the dual role of Northside People west edition editor and online editor.

Over the years we have been privileged to work with some great journalists and many notable names from the national media started their journalism careers with us, people such as Sinead Crowley (Arts & Media Correspondent with RTE), Melanie Finn (Evening Herald), Siobhan Maguire (Sunday Times), Fiona Gartland (Irish Times), Aine Kerr (Storyful) and Brian Whelan (Irish editor of Yahoo).

Thanks also to Jackie Rogers, Sean Murphy, Keith Falkiner, Niall Bourke, Geraldine Comiskey, Jessie Magee, Catherine Blake, Jo Ann Fox, James Phelan, Sabra Aslam, Martin Flanagan, Michael Moloney, Stephen Mangan, Neil Walsh, Esther McCarthy, Annette O’Meara, Niall Gormley and Warren Swords.

These days, the majority of news stories you’ll read in Northside People are written by our staff journalist, Aoibhinn Twomey. Aoibhinn joined the editorial team in 2006 and has further enhanced our reputation for quality journalism by breaking local news stories on a weekly basis.

Jamie Deasy, our staff journalist with Southside People, replicates our winning editorial formula on the other side of the Liffey.

We’d also like to pay tribute to all the talented photographers who have contributed to Northside People down through the years, namely Stephen O’Reilly, Gerry Mooney, Tony Kelly, Frank Scalzo, Paul Nicholls, Gwen Kelly, Conor O Mearain and Kim Haughton. Special mention goes to Darren Kinsella who has provided exceptional photography services to us since the mid-1990s.

Apologies if we have inadvertently left anyone out. But thanks to one and all for helping us create a newspaper we can all be proud of playing a part in.