Liz Allen (born 1969) is an

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

investigative journalist Investigative journalism is a form of journalism in which reporters deeply investigate a single topic of interest, such as serious crimes, political corruption, or corporate wrongdoing. An investigative journalist may spend months or years rese ...

. She is a former crime correspondent of the '' Sunday Independent'' and author of two novels.

Early life and education

Born one of eight brothers and sisters in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

, she developed a taste for writing at 14 by becoming a regular contributor to the letters pages of ''

The Evening Herald ''The Herald'' is a nationwide mid-market tabloid newspaper headquartered in Dublin, Ireland, and published by Independent News & Media who are a subsidiary of Mediahuis. It is published Monday–Saturday. The newspaper was known as the ''Eve ...

''. By 16 she had obtained a weekend job with the paper writing local footballers sports profiles. She studied law for a year at

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies ...

in Dublin before leaving to freelance for ''The Herald''.

Career

She and her publisher were prosecuted for offending against the Irish Official Secrets Act in 1995, after she used a police memo to write a story revealing that police had prior knowledge of Ireland's greatest bank robbery. Working at first for the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper and online publication which is owned by Independent News & Media (INM), a subsidiary of Mediahuis. The newspaper version often includes glossy magazines. Traditionally a broadsheet new ...

'', followed by the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to tab ...

''; after the 1996 murder of colleague

Veronica Guerin Veronica Guerin (5 July 1958 – 26 June 1996) was an Irish crime reporter who was murdered by drug lords. Born in Dublin, she was an athlete in school and later played on the Irish national teams for both football and basketball. After stud ...

, Allen became crime correspondent at the '' Sunday Independent.'' One of her first stories for the paper was an interview with John Gilligan, suspected of the murder. After resigning from her position at the newspaper in 2000, Allen sued ''The Independent'', claiming

constructive dismissal In employment law, constructive dismissal, also called constructive discharge or constructive termination, occurs when an employee resigns as a result of the employer creating a hostile work environment. Since the resignation was not truly volu ...

due to stress and anxiety. The

Employment Tribunal Employment tribunals are tribunal public bodies in England and Wales and Scotland which have statutory jurisdiction to hear many kinds of disputes between employers and employees. The most common disputes are concerned with unfair dismissal, red ...

found in Allen's favour, awarding her IR£70,500, the largest such award to that date. After appealing, the newspaper eventually settled out of court in October 2001. In 2003 Hodder and Staughton published her first novel, ''Last to Know,'' and in 2005 her second novel, ''The Setup''. In 2014 she founded the Glasthule Gallery in Dublin, which subsequently closed down in June 2018. Later that year she was declared

bankrupt Bankruptcy is a legal process through which people or other entities who cannot repay debts to creditors may seek relief from some or all of their debts. In most jurisdictions, bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debt ...

with €3.7m in debts.

References

1969 births Living people Irish women novelists Irish women journalists Place of birth missing (living people) People from Dalkey {{Ireland-writer-stub