John Healy (Irish journalist)
John Healy (1930–1991) was an Irish journalist from Charlestown, County Mayo, who wrote for Western People and The Irish Times.
Career
[edit]He joined the Western People in 1948, then moved to Dublin to work for the Irish News Agency, a government-run news service managed by Conor Cruise O'Brien. He worked for a time for The Irish Press group before joining the Irish Times in 1959.[1] Healy also edited The Dublin Evening Mail for a time.[citation needed]
Healy was a journalist with The Irish Times newspaper, writing the Backbencher column in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a close friend of the editor, Douglas Gageby.[citation needed]
Healy's book No One Shouted Stop (The Death of an Irish Town), published in 1968, chronicled the economic and social decline of rural life in the west of Ireland in a time of widespread poverty and mass emigration. He also wrote Nineteen Acres on the history and lifestyle of his family, who were small farmers.[citation needed]
Healy was a strong Fianna Fáil supporter and one of the most fervent journalistic supporters and admirers of both Donagh O'Malley and Charles Haughey.[2] Healy's support for the latter caused considerable controversy among his fellow Irish Times journalists, many of whom were outspoken opponents of Haughey.[2]
Death and legacy
[edit]Healy died 6 January 1991, and was survived by his wife, Evelyn.
In March 2007, a RTÉ radio journalist visited Charlestown and assessed the changes in Healy's hometown in the forty years since the writing of his book.[1]
Honours and places bearing his name include the Western Development Commission/John Healy Awards,[3] the N5 Charlestown bypass,[4] and the John Healy Western People Awards.[5]
Published works
[edit]- The Death of an Irish Town (Mercier Press, 1968)
- Nineteen Acres (ISBN 0906312108, Kennys Bookshops, 1978)
References
[edit]- ^ Nineteen Acres - Author Biography John Healy Archived 27 November 2020 at the Wayback Machine www.mayobooks.ie
- ^ a b Diarmaid Ferriter (2012). Ambiguous Republic: Ireland in the 1970s. Profile Books. p. 130. ISBN 1847658563.
- ^ John Healy Awards Archived 2008-04-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Commins, Michael (6 November 2007). "John Healy Road; Charlestown community celebrates landmark day". Mayo News.
- ^ Coffey, Sandra (24 September 2008). "Wigan mayor launches the John Healy Festival". Western People.
The newspaper has teamed up with the festival and is launching a story-writing competition next week. The John Healy Western People Awards competition is open to all secondary school students in Mayo.
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