President leads tributes to ‘warm and engaging’ Irish Times journalist Michael O’Regan

President Michael D Higgins has led tributes to Michael O’Regan, the long-time correspondent for The Irish Times, who died suddenly at his home in Dublin over the weekend.

A native of Co Kerry, Mr O’Regan was a well-known and much-admired figure in The Irish Times and in Irish journalism more broadly, having covered politics since the 1980s. Since his retirement from the paper in 2019 he contributed occasional articles and was a regular voice on television and radio, including on Radio Kerry, to which he continued to contribute a weekly radio column.

He was a vociferous supporter of his native county in all matters, and served as president of the Kerry Association in Dublin in recent years.

President Higgins said the journalist was “always warm and engaging in conversation”.

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“He was incredibly courteous, and a perfect judge of when an injection of the humour, upon which he drew from his proud Kerry background, was needed,” Mr Higgins said.

He paid tribute to his journalism, saying his “extensive research” ensured he had a full understanding of the topics which he wrote about for The Irish Times.

“Prior to becoming an Oireachtas reporter, Michael made a significant contribution in his coverage of the Kerry Babies Tribunal, both during the tribunal itself and in his book on that tragic event and its handling.

“In recent years, Michael wrote about his cancer treatment with great dignity. In writing with such clarity and honesty of his treatment, he provided a great service to others in helping provide a sense of understanding and how they may seek to face their own treatments. As ever, Michael’s meticulous skills of context, warmth and clarity were to the fore,” President Higgins said.

On social media on Sunday evening, the Tánaiste, Micheál Martin, was one of many to express sadness at the news and pay tribute. He was, he wrote: “very saddened at the passing of Michael O’Regan, an outstanding journalist, raconteur and man of integrity. A political journalist for all of my Dáil career, Michael was engaging, objective, and great company. A Kerryman to his core, he will be sorely missed by all”.

Minister for Further and Higher Eduction Simon Harris wrote: “Michael O’Regan was a gent; professional, insightful, decent, fair, a lover of all things political. He had a distinguished career & continued to share insights online & on air. His family, many friends & colleagues are in my prayers. Rest easy Michael.”

Séamus Dooley, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, said: “Michael was a man of wisdom, kindness, humour. He could be provocative, even annoying but never dull – the very best of company. He loved storytelling. It was what he did best.”

The Kerry Association in Dublin, meanwhile, said it was “with great sadness,” that it had “learned of the death of our beloved friend and wonderful president Michael O’Regan. He was a brilliant and courageous reporter on national and local issues but it is as a proud Kerryman to his core that we will remember him – proud of his daughters, his grandchildren, his country, his county and his people. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a h’anam dílis.”

The Editor of The Irish Times, Ruadhán Mac Cormaic, said: “Michael was a generous colleague and a first-rate journalist who leaves behind a body of work that chronicles a country in flux. His coverage of the Kerry babies case was the work of a highly skilled reporter; his anger, recalling it many decades later, was that of a man of heart and compassion.

“Few people observed life in Leinster House more closely than Michael but, informed by his own deep knowledge of his beloved Kerry, he was keenly attuned to the ways in which local politics was at the heart of everything. He was sceptical but not cynical; his job was to understand politicians, and he did. We’ll miss that unforgettable voice.”

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Mr O’Regan qualified from the first national course in journalism in the College of Commerce in Rathmines in 1972 and worked with The Kerryman and The Corkman before joining The Irish Times in 1981. Among many other assignments, he covered the Kerry Babies Tribunal, about which he went on to write a book, Dark Secrets. He became a Dáil reporter in 1988 and was a stalwart of the newspaper’s political coverage for more than 30 years.

When he retired in 2019, the former Irish Times editor Geraldine Kennedy said his great contribution to journalism, most especially Irish Times journalism, was that he retained his sense of “country” and never lost his values.

“Michael’s journalistic asset was that he loved and consumed politics. He liked politicians. Unlike many of the younger generation in today’s digital world, he liked mixing with them ... There was never a complaint made that Michael was biased. He was always seen as fair,” she said.

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In recent years he had been treated for cancer, which he wrote about in a moving Irish Times article that also reported his joy at the birth of his granddaughter, but his death was unexpected.

On Monday, the February meeting of Kerry County Council began with cross-party tributes to the late journalist. Speaking on Radio Kerry, the cathaoirleach of Kerry County Council, Jim Finucane, said Michael was “a true master of his craft”.

“His political knowledge was second to none,” the Fine Gael councillor said.

Fiona Stack, station manager of Radio Kerry, said he was “incredibly generous with his knowledge, insightful and kind to younger journalists”. She said he was above all “a natural storyteller”.

Danny Healy-Rae said Michael was one of the first journalists to give his father, Jackie, a chance of a seat in 1997.

“I have been following and listening to his view and opinions since early March 1997 when he gave my father a real possible chance of winning a Dáil Seat [in] the following June 1997 general election,” he said.

Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin spoke of Michael’s kindness to him in his first days in the Dáil. “Personally, I’ll never forget him for taking the time to stop and chat in the corridors of Leinster House in my early days in Dáil Éireann, imparting his wisdom and knowledge to a young and slightly daunted TD ‘from the other side of the mountain’,” he said.

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