Flying high to dipping low.. the ups and downs of a stellar career
Broadcaster who never forgot his principles
BORN in September 1949, broadcaster Charlie Bird was raised in Sandymount in Dublin.
In the late 1960s, he took an active interest in far-left politics, being a member of Young Socialists.
In this role, along with Tariq Ali of the International Marxist Group, he attended the funeral of Peter Graham of Saor Eire who was assassinated on 25 October 1971 in an internecine dispute.
A photograph of the funeral shows Ali and Bird giving a clenched fist salute at the grave.
In the early 1970s Bird joined Official Sinn Fein (later Sinn Fein: the Workers’ Party) and in 1973 was their director of elections in Dublin South-central, but in 2022 claimed he left shortly thereafter and had only been involved with the party for a few months.
Subsequently, Bird was recruited into RTE by Workers’ Party member Eoghan Harris in the mid-1970s.
For a period Bird was a member of the Labour Party but he left after Noel Browne quit following the 1977 Labour party conference in Cork.
Having joined RTE as a researcher in current affairs in 1974 Charlie began his career with RTE News in 1980.
Bird was Chief News Correspondent until January 2009 and for many years in the 1990s, he was the only point of contact between RTE and the Provisional IRA.
In 1996, a man claiming to be from the terrorist group rang the RTE newsroom asking to speak to Bird.
The caller said that the IRA was laying down its weapons and entering into a ceasefire.
Speaking about the call, Bird said: “The person I spoke to has proven to be very reliable in the past about information and statements emanating from the Irish republican movement.”
Bird reported on the Gulf War and was in Syria for the release of Brian Keenan in 1990.
He covered the outbreak of the Somali civil war in the early 90s and the
Person I spoke to has proven to be very reliable in the past CHARLIE BIRD ON HIS IRA CONTACT
Rwandan genocide in 1994.
In 1998, Bird and his colleague George Lee broke the story about a tax evasion scheme being operated by National Irish Bank, in which the bank was offering customers looking to avoid tax offshore investment schemes in the Isle of Man.
For this, both men were awarded Journalist of the Year.
However, while the NIB story represented a professional high point, the aftermath represented a low one – “the worst time of my life” as Bird described it in 2006.
During his coverage of the NIB story, Bird reported that Beverly Flynn had assisted clients of the bank in evading tax by funnelling undeclared income to Clerical Medical schemes based in the Isle of Man.
Flynn denied the claims and sued RTE for libel. What followed was “the longest-running libel case in the history of the State”. The matter went to the Irish High Court in 2001. A jury found that while RTE was unable to prove its case, they also stated that the allegations levelled against Flynn were substantially true.
DAMAGES
Thus, Flynn was judged to have “won” the case, but was awarded no damages. Flynn appealed the matter to the Supreme Court and lost, but continued to legally pursue the matter.
The issue was never fully settled until 2007, when RTE agreed to settle with Flynn to the sum of €1.24million. That became a controversy in itself, with the public outraged that ultimately the taxpayer would have to foot such a steep bill, as well as accusations Taoiseach Bertie Ahern was involved and had encouraged RTE to settle.
In the early 2000s Bird covered a number of major international news stories for RTE News such as the September 11 attacks in New York and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami.
He also covered domestic stories such as a 2004 horse-doping scandal
including Cian O’connor and the story of the Colombia Three – Irish Republicans charged with providing training to FARC rebels.
In 2008, Charlie was attacked after he was singled out during the Love Ulster riots in Dublin. He was treated in hospital for a fractured cheekbone, bruising and soft-tissue damage after the assault
Thug Graham Hanapy shouted “you’re an Orange b ***** d” at Mr Bird before punching him and knocking him down.
He also shouted “Fenian ‘Free State’ b ****** d, I’ll kill you all” at gardai who arrested him.
He was given three years in jail back in 2008 for the vicious assault, which took place on O’connell Street, on February 25, 2006.
Bird was awarded an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin in 2002. In 2009, he took up the role of Washington Correspondent, but prematurely returned to his earlier post in Ireland in June 2010.
A two-part documentary about his first year in the US was broadcast later that month on RTE One. In it he spoke of his “madness” in moving to the country and his lack of contacts and recognition in Washington DC. At the end of the second programme, he announced he would vacate his Washington post.
Bird returned to Ireland to take up his previous job of Chief News Correspondent with RTE in June 2010. He covered a high-profile leadership challenge of Enda Kenny on his return.
Speaking about his retirement in 2012, the reporter said: “I’ve been in RTE a long time.
“I have finally made up my mind. It took me a while. I feel it is time for me to move on.”