Politicians pay tribute to ‘fantastic’ Monaghan journalist Patsy McArdle

Tributes have been paid to the journalist Patsy McArdle, who has died this week at his home in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan.

McArdle reported from South Armagh during the Northern Ireland Troubles and wrote the book The Secret War about the activities of gardaí, the British army, the Royal Ulster Constabulary and the British Special Air Service (SAS) along the Border region.

He died on Thursday at his home in Knockagolis and his funeral will take place on Saturday at St Mary’s Church in Castleblayney.

Minister for Social Protection Heather Humphreys, who is a TD for Cavan-Monaghan, paid tribute to McArdle on Twitter, saying he was a “fantastic journalist” who could “always be relied upon to give a fair and accurate account of events”.

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Fellow Cavan-Monaghan TD Sinn Féin’s Matt Carthy described McArdle as “one of the finest journalists Monaghan has ever produced”, saying his work was “always extremely fair and thorough”.

‘Honest perspective’

“Patsy was a mainstay of delivering local news and regularly provided national outlets with an honest perspective from the border region,” said Mr Carthy. “Patsy will be sadly missed by those who worked with him in the Northern Standard and many other outlets, by people across Monaghan and surrounding counties but especially in his beloved Castleblayney – and by all who had the privilege of knowing him, myself included.”

Like many on Twitter, RTÉ reporter Fran McNulty recalled the night McArdle received a lifetime membership of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), adding that "little stirred in Patsy's patch that he didn't know about".

Labour Party TD Ged Nash noted that "Patsy McArdle, live from the South Armagh border" was "part of the soundtrack to my youth".