Richard Downes is an Irish broadcaster and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

. He has worked for the

Press Association PA Media (formerly the Press Association) is a multimedia news agency, and the national news agency of the United Kingdom and Ireland. It is part of PA Media Group Limited, a private company with 26 shareholders, most of whom are national and re ...

Reuters Reuters ( ) is a news agency owned by Thomson Reuters Corporation. It employs around 2,500 journalists and 600 photojournalists in about 200 locations worldwide. Reuters is one of the largest news agencies in the world. The agency was estab ...

, the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and published digitally that focuses on business and economic current affairs. Based in London, England, the paper is owned by a Japanese holding company, Nik ...

'', the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

and

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 ...

. He was one of the presenters of ''

Morning Ireland ''Morning Ireland'' is the breakfast news programme broadcast by RTÉ Radio 1 in Ireland and is noted as that country's most listened to radio programme. It is broadcast each weekday morning between 07.00 and 09.00 and alternate items are normall ...

'' on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 1) is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for th ...

from 2002 until 2010 and was Washington Correspondent for

RTÉ News RTÉ News and Current Affairs ( ga, Nuacht agus Cúrsaí Reatha RTÉ), also known as RTÉ News (''Nuacht RTÉ''), is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann. Its services include local, nationa ...

from 2010 until 2013.

Early and personal life

Downes was reared in

Edenmore Edenmore () is a locality and townland within Raheny on the Northside of Dublin, Ireland, with several housing developments and a mid-size municipal park. It lies within the Dublin 5 postal district. History Edenmore was developed by Dublin ...

Northside Dublin The Northside ( ga, Taobh Ó Thuaidh) is the part of Dublin city that lies to the north of the River Liffey. It is an informal but commonly used term. While it is sometimes regarded as less wealthy than the city's Southside, the Northside wa ...

, born the ninth of ten children. His father was a civil-servant whose library Downes became fascinated with from an early age. He admired the souvenirs brought back from

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

by his cousins who were missionaries. His brother was also based in

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

. He is married to Mairead and they have two children. He lives in North Dublin.

Career

Downes's career in journalism started in 1985 in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, where he worked for the

, and the ''

''. He later moved to the

. There he was made Southern Africa Correspondent. From 1998 he was based in

Baghdad Baghdad (; ar, بَغْدَاد , ) is the capital of Iraq and the second-largest city in the Arab world after Cairo. It is located on the Tigris near the ruins of the ancient city of Babylon and the Sassanid Persian capital of Ctesiphon ...

for two years. He grew to know the country and was sent to report on the Desert Fox aerial assault against

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

which took place that December. He was to later write of his experiences in his 2006 book ''In Search of Iraq: Baghdad to Babylon''. In 2000, he moved to

RTÉ News and Current Affairs (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

. He was later redeployed to

Iraq Iraq,; ku, عێراق, translit=Êraq officially the Republic of Iraq, '; ku, کۆماری عێراق, translit=Komarî Êraq is a country in Western Asia. It is bordered by Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq ...

, this time with RTÉ. He covered many events in the country since the start of the

Iraq War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish) , partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...

. He left before Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled, claiming he was "at an advanced stage of psychological disintegration" and that the pressure on his family was too much to bear. Downes published his book in 2006, ''In Search of Iraq: Baghdad to Babylon'', which has an account of his time in Iraq. In 2008, during the

2008 Zimbabwean presidential election General elections were held in Zimbabwe on 29 March 2008 to elect the President and Parliament. Because of Zimbabwe's dire economic situation, the elections were expected to provide incumbent President Robert Mugabe with his toughest electoral ...

, he was one of only a few to be granted access into

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. Downes was only allowed to stay in the country for a period of three days but he returned disguised as a tourist and filmed a secret report for the

's ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' (or ''BBC Newsnight'') is BBC Two's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. The programme is broadcast on weekdays at 22:30. and is also availa ...

''. He presented Ireland's most listened to radio programme, ''

'' from 2002 to 2010. It was announced in April 2010 that he would succeed

Charlie Bird Charles Bird (born 9 September 1949)In his semi-autobiography ''This Is Charlie Bird'', he states he has two birth certificates, one saying he was born 4 September 1949, the other 9 September 1949. He chooses to celebrate his birthday on 9 Sept ...

as RTÉ's Washington Correspondent. When Bird announced his premature departure from the role, Downes was rumoured by 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 ''Ev ...

'' to replace him. He was in the United States for three years. At the news of the role he said that he was a "surprised but rather delighted man." He took up the role in June 2010. He returned to Dublin and was replaced by Catriona Perry in late 2013.

Literary work

* ''In Search of Iraq: Baghdad to Babylon'' (New Island Press, 2006)

References

External links

Biography of Downes
at

RTÉ.ie RTÉ.ie is the brand name and home of Irish broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ)'s online activities, located at the URL https://www.rte.ie/. The site began publishing on 26 May 1996. According to RTÉ, it operates on an entirely com ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Downes, Richard Living people 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people People from Raheny RTÉ newsreaders and journalists BBC newsreaders and journalists RTÉ Radio 1 presenters Year of birth missing (living people) Broadcasters from County Dublin