Patsy McGarry is the Religious Affairs correspondent with ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

''. He succeeded

Andy Pollak Andy Pollak is a journalist, editor, writer and commentator focusing on cross-border cooperation in Ireland. Biography Pollak was born in Ballymena, County Antrim, and largely brought up in London. His father, a Czech citizen of German-speaking J ...

as editor in the mid-1990s. He also is the commissioning editor for articles which are published in the paper's '' Rite and Reason'' column every Monday. McGarry also writes occasionally on social issues for the newspaper. He has worked for

Independent Newspapers Independent Newspapers Limited (INL) was a newspaper publisher in New Zealand. Started as the Wellington Publishing Company in 1906 to publish ''The Dominion'', it began taking over other newspapers in the 1970s and was renamed Independent New ...

, ''

The Irish Press ''The Irish Press'' (Irish: ''Scéala Éireann'') was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995. Foundation The paper's first issue was published on the eve of the 1931 All-Ireland ...

'' group, '' Magill'' magazine, and freelanced briefly for

Raidió Teilifís Éireann Raidi (; ; also written Ragdi; born August, 1938) is a Tibetan politician of the People's Republic of China. He served as a vice chairman of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress from 2003 to 2008, and the highest ranking Tibeta ...

Career

A native of

Ballaghaderreen Ballaghaderreen () is a town in County Roscommon, Ireland. It was part of County Mayo prior to 1898. It is located just off the N5 National primary road. The population was 1,808 in the 2016 census. History As of 1837, the town was recorde ...

County Roscommon "Steadfast Irish heart" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Roscommon.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = Connacht , subdi ...

, he is a graduate of

University College Galway The University of Galway ( ga, Ollscoil na Gaillimhe) is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. A tertiary education and research institution, the university was awarded the full five QS stars for excellence in 201 ...

, and was auditor of the College's Literary and Debating Society in 1974-1975. In 1989 he set up the first independent radio newsroom in the Republic at Capital Radio (now

FM104 FM104 is an independent local radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited (unconnected with, and not to be confused with, Capital Radio plc), and is a sub ...

) 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 ...

, having previously worked for four years on the pirate station Sunshine Radio in the city. He was theatre critic at ''The Irish Press'' from 1990 until 1995. He received a national media award for comment and analysis in 1992 for '' Sunday Independent'' articles on the fall of

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

and was awarded the 1998 Templeton European Religion Writer of the Year for articles in ''The Irish Times'' on

Drumcree Drumcree may refer to: Events *the Drumcree conflict Places in Northern Ireland *Drumcree, a Parish (administrative division), parish in County Armagh *Drumcree, a townland in Drumcree parish *Drumcree Church, a church in Drumcree parish *Drumcree ...

, the papal visit to

Cuba Cuba ( , ), officially the Republic of Cuba ( es, República de Cuba, links=no ), is an island country comprising the island of Cuba, as well as Isla de la Juventud and several minor archipelagos. Cuba is located where the northern Caribbea ...

that year, and articles criticising the Irish churches for failing to practise what they preached on reconciliation. In 2001 he edited ''Christianity'', a collection of essays published by

Veritas Veritas is the name given to the Roman virtue of Honesty, truthfulness, which was considered one of the main virtues any good Roman should possess. The Greek goddess of truth is Aletheia (Ancient Greek language, Ancient Greek: ). The German phi ...

. A collection of weekly columns he wrote for ''The Irish Times'' in 2000 was published by that paper in 2001 under the title ''The Book of Jesus Report'', a contemporary account of the four Gospels. In 2006, Patsy wrote ''While Justice Slept: The True Story of Nicky Kelly and the Sallins Train Robbery''. He also wrote the official biography of President Mary McAleese, entitled ''First Citizen: Mary McAleese and the Irish Presidency''. In February 2014 he was implicated by fellow Irish Times journalist

John Waters John Samuel Waters Jr. (born April 22, 1946) is an American filmmaker, writer, actor, and artist. He rose to fame in the early 1970s for his Cinema of Transgression, transgressive cult films, including ''Multiple Maniacs'' (1970), ''Pink Flamin ...

as the author of a handful of ''ad hominem'' Tweets, written anonymously, that suggested a bias against

Catholic social teaching Catholic social teaching, commonly abbreviated CST, is an area of Catholic doctrine concerning matters of human dignity and the common good in society. The ideas address oppression, the role of the state (polity), state, subsidiarity, social o ...

. He appears on TV3 occasionally.

References

External links

''Articles by Patsy McGarry''
On the Message of Christmas (2004)

Abuse compensation fund almost depleted, say bishops (2005)Dowell rejects criticism of Asbos (2005)
''Books by Patsy McGarry''
Liffey Press product detail for ''While Justice Slept: The True Story of Nicky Kelly and the Sallins Train Robbery''
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGarry, Patsy Year of birth missing (living people) Living people Alumni of the University of Galway FM104 presenters Magill people People from County Roscommon The Irish Press people The Irish Times people