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User:EEHalli/Eileen O'Brien (journalist)

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Eileen Mary O'Brien (1925-1986) was an Irish journalist and editor. She was the Belfast editor of the Irish Press and then the Irish language editor and columnist for the Irish Times.[1][2]

Early Life

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Eileen O'Brien was born on 23 January 1925 in Dublin. Her father was Liam O'Brien, a professor of romance languages and her mother was Helen O'Brien, a suffragette. Eileen went to University College, Galway at 16 to study Irish, French and Latin. After graduation, she got a job as a journalist on the Connaught Tribune.

Career

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O'Brien moved to England to take a job at the Yorkshire Post, before getting a role at the Irish News Agency. She reported from Dublin, Belfast and London, reporting on the 1950s IRA border campaign. [2]

In 1965, O'Brien moved to the Irish Times. She was the first woman employed by the paper to write about politics and social affairs rather than fashion or cookery.[2] As well as reporting she wrote the weekly 'Irishwoman's diary' column under the pen name 'Candida'. She also started a weekly news feature in Irish, ‘Tuarascáil’, and became the paper's Irish editor.[1][2][3] She used her 'A Social Sort of Column' in the Irish Times to write about social affairs.[4] Her report on the conditions in the Benburb Street tenements in 1970 was cited by the Catholic Standard in their call for better social housing in Ireland.[5]

Death

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O'Brien died on 1 January 1986.[2]


References

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  1. ^ a b The Dictionary of Ulster Biography. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  2. ^ a b c d e O'Brien, Eileen Mary (Ní Bhriain, Eibhlín | Dictionary of Irish Biography. Retrieved 18 September 2022.
  3. ^ "Deaglán de Bréadún: the news in Irish". The Irish Times. 12 Jan 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  4. ^ Bourke, Richard; McBride, Ian (12 January 2016). The Princeton History of Modern Ireland. Princeton University Press. p. 260. ISBN 978-0-691-15406-0. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
  5. ^ Leahy, Alice (1 October 2018). The Stars Are Our Only Warmth. The O'Brien Press Ltd. ISBN 978-1-78849-071-9. Retrieved 19 September 2022.
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