Liam Cahill (7 May 1950 – 20 June 2022) was an Irish civil servant, journalist, political adviser and historian.
Career
Cahill took up a position as a civil servant in January 1972, working in the capital taxes branch of the
Revenue Commissioners for five years. In 1977, he was promoted to administrative officer and transferred to the EEC and Law Reform Division of the
Department of Justice. In December 1979 Cahill joined
RTÉ
(RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...
, where his initial title was industrial reporter. Three years later he was appointed economics correspondent, a position he held for six years before becoming political correspondent, working mainly from
Leinster House. In January 1990 Cahill took a break from RTÉ to work in a temporary position as press spokesperson during Ireland's
presidency of the European Council
The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as t ...
. After leaving RTÉ completely in December 1990 he spent much of the next 30 years working as an adviser and consultant to various groups, including
Allied Irish Bank
Allied Irish Banks, p.l.c. is one of the so-called Big Four commercial banks in Ireland. AIB offers a full range of personal, business and corporate banking services. The bank also offers a range of general insurance products such as home, trav ...
and
Intel Ireland. He also served as a political adviser to
David Andrews,
Shane McEntee,
Nessa Childers,
Thomas Byrne and
Alan Kelly. Cahill's first book, ''Forgotten Revolution: The Limerick Soviet 1919'', was published in 1990 and a follow-up was released in 2019. His last book, ''From Suir to Jarama, Mossie Quinlan’s Life and Legacy'', was published in 2021.
Personal life and death
Born in
Waterford in May 1950, Cahill was educated at the city’s Mount Sion school. He later studied part-time at
University College Dublin, acquiring the degree of
Bachelor of Civil Law. Cahill married Patricia Cannon in 1977. He died suddenly on 20 June 2022, aged 72.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cahill, Liam
1950 births
2022 deaths
Alumni of University College Dublin
Irish historians
Irish civil servants
Writers from Waterford (city)
Mass media people from County Waterford
20th-century Irish journalists
RTÉ newsreaders and journalists