Advertisement

We need your help now

Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.

You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.

If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.

Tommie Gorman in 2015. Eamonn Farrell/RollingNews

Former RTÉ correspondent Tommie Gorman dies aged 68

The Sligo man retired from the broadcaster in 2021.

FORMER RTÉ JOURNALIST Tommie Gorman has died.

The broadcaster spent more than 40 years working in the industry, covering developments in the north, in Europe and in his native north-west.

In a statement from his family, read on RTÉ’s Liveline, it was announced that the Sligo man had died today “surrounded by his family” aged 68.

“Tommie was a cherished husband, father, brother, and friend whose innate kindness and generosity of spirit touched the lives of all who knew him,” his family said.

“His memory will forever remain in our hearts, and his spirit will continue to guide and inspire us every day.”

A Book of Condolence will open at the Mansion House in Dublin from tomorrow until Friday. It will be available to sign from 11am to 4pm on both days, while it will also be available to sign online from tomorrow morning. 

‘Widely trusted’ commentator

President Michael D Higgins said Tommie Gorman was a “widely trusted and deeply insightful” commentator during his time in journalism, singling out his contribution during his 20 years spent as RTÉ’s Northern editor during a critical period for the region.

Throughout that time, Tommie was respected by all sides of the political spectrum and was a trusted source of information for the public during challenging years, the fostering of peace, and all that was achieved in Anglo-Irish relations over that time,” Higgins said.

RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst also paid tribute to Tommie, saying he was “deeply saddened” by his sudden passing.

“I met Tommie on Monday evening – he was in good form and optimistic ahead of planned surgery this week,” Bakhurst said.

Tommie was not only a great friend and colleague to me, and to so many in RTÉ and beyond, he was also a journalist of outstanding pedigree, integrity and incredible tenacity.

“As RTÉ’s Northern Editor he was the voice of an era as that era itself transformed from violence to peace. Tommie guided us through the intricacies with colour, command and panache. He was a storyteller journalist like no other. I am so deeply sorrowed by his loss and extend my personal sympathies to Tommie’s family.”

Taoiseach Simon Harris paid tribute to Tommie as someone who had made an “incredible contribution not just to broadcasting, but indeed to peace on this island” thanks to his work covering the development of Northern Ireland after the Good Friday Agreement.

“To say he took this responsibility seriously is an understatement and as a result the Irish people trusted Tommie. If Tommie Gorman said it, then it happened.”

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said his personal friendship with Tommie “was one I valued very highly” and described him as “the voice of the peace process”. 

“His knowledge and wisdom enriched those in the negotiating rooms just as much as it informed those outside, while his humour and generosity kept negotiators going just as optimism may have flagged.”

Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys described Tommie as “a true gentleman and a good friend”. 

“Tommie’s record in broadcasting was mirrored by his contribution to shaping Ireland’s Peace Process,” she said.

Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald described the death of Tommie as “shocking” and said he was a “tremendous man”, who had “an unparalleled journalistic career”.

“He conducted some of the most legendary interviews to have appeared on Irish television, and while he was a tough interviewer, he was always fair,” she said.

SDLP Leader Colum Eastwood paid tribute to Tommie for an “endless dedication to telling the stories of ordinary people” in his work.

“It didn’t matter who you were or where you came from, he was interested in raising up the voices of people who needed to be heard. And I will always be grateful for his kind storytelling for the people of Derry,” Eastwood added.

Sligo Rovers confirmed that they would pay tribute to him at the team’s game against Shamrock Rovers on Friday.

In a statement, the club described Tommie as “one of our most dedicated supporters and treasured figures within our community and beyond”. 

“Tommie, who grew up on Cairns Road, secured his first byline in The Sligo Champion in the form of match reports of Sligo Rovers away games in Dublin in the 1970s while studying in the capital,” the statement read.

The club said Tommie hosted many events for them and was instrumental in countless fundraising campaigns.

Sligo Rovers chairman Tommy Higgins said the club are “simply devastated by the loss of Tommie”. 

Career

Tommie Gorman was educated in Summerhill College and at the College of Journalism in Rathmines, Dublin.

He spent over 40 years at RTÉ, becoming a well-known face thanks to roles including as the Northern Ireland editor.

He spent three years at the Ballina-based Western Journal before joining RTÉ in 1980 as North-West correspondent. He later held the role of Europe Editor before his appointment as Northern Editor in 2001.

He made several documentaries for RTÉ, including about his cancer diagnosis, while tracking the ups and downs of Stormont politics.

His 2002 documentary Europe, Cancer and Me drew praise from the president, who said it was a “courageous and generous work” which brought a greater public awareness and understanding of the conditions and the treatments available for them.

The documentary was made after, in the early days of his diagnosis, Tommie discovered that under EU law, he was entitled to treatment available in another EU state if that treatment was cost effective and useful.

In 1998, he became the first Irish citizen to access treatment at a Swedish Centre of Excellence, availing of an EU directive to qualify for that care.

One of his most famous interviews related to sport and was an interview with Roy Keane after the Ireland captain’s row with manager Mick McCarthy in the Republic of Ireland team’s 2002 World Cup training camp on Saipan.

Tommie retired from the broadcaster in 2021. Recent years saw him writing commentary on a range of political and sporting issues for online publication The Currency. He also wrote a book, Never Better, My Life in Our Times.

Higgins said Tommie’s love of sport saw him be a “tireless champion” for Sligo, most especially its soccer club Sligo Rovers, while also supporting London’s Tottenham Hotspur from afar.

Tommie would know “every minute detail of the clubs and their fortunes”, the president added in a statement issued by Áras an Uachtaráin this afternoon.

The family’s statement said that Tommie had “touched the lives of all who knew him” with his “innate kindness”.

He is survived by his wife Ceara and their two children Moya and Joe.

Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone...
A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation.

Close
19 Comments
This is YOUR comments community. Stay civil, stay constructive, stay on topic. Please familiarise yourself with our comments policy here before taking part.
Leave a Comment
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bo bo
    Favourite Bo bo
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:24 PM

    I suppose it’s a levelling of the playing field somewhat maybe…

    351
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thomas Sheridan
    Favourite Thomas Sheridan
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:49 PM

    @Bo bo: too true Comrade Bo bo.
    Just like people who also paid for private health insurance now getting the same treated as those who drank and smoked their money

    280
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean Higgins
    Favourite Sean Higgins
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:04 PM

    @Thomas Sheridan: I’d say you’d be heading for the hospital alright if you drank and smoked your money……..

    131
    See 6 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute RiainOg
    Favourite RiainOg
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:41 PM

    @Sean Higgins: Do tell, smoking money seems straight forward, but how would one drink money? Is there any high achievement to be gained from these activities?

    22
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thomas Sheridan
    Favourite Thomas Sheridan
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:43 PM

    @Sean Higgins: most people of average intelligence would be expected to understand

    40
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute RiainOg
    Favourite RiainOg
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:43 PM

    @Sean Higgins: Jaysus Sean, didnt see you there, was just talking to @Thomas Sheridan!

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute RiainOg
    Favourite RiainOg
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:45 PM

    @Sean Higgins: Jey,sus Sean, didnt see you there! Was just talking to @Thomas Sheridan!

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Woolly
    Favourite Woolly
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 10:18 PM

    @Thomas Sheridan: pretty sure people with private health insurance drink and smoke from their money too what’s in your pocket is yours to spend as you see fit and nobody else’s business

    50
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute PV Nevin
    Favourite PV Nevin
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 12:40 PM

    @Thomas Sheridan:
    Snobbery, haughtiness. Go together with ignorance

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute pat seery
    Favourite pat seery
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:51 PM

    It’s good to see that money is not buying points this year

    267
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maalouf
    Favourite Maalouf
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 10:12 PM

    @pat seery: still have to work you tool

    126
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Andrew Keane
    Favourite Andrew Keane
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 1:41 AM

    @Maalouf: people like that only ever see the money and not the effort.

    40
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cherian George
    Favourite Cherian George
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 7:12 AM

    @pat seery: And Pat when did Money buy grades and how. If parents put up money for a Private school it is not because we had excess money. We sacrificed and priortized

    35
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Karin Muller
    Favourite Karin Muller
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:27 PM

    My son did not go to a private school and today lost his place in a UK university because of a reduced grade system! This is impacting everyone

    275
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kieran Staunton
    Favourite Kieran Staunton
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:38 PM

    @Karin Muller: do they still have the option to actually sit the exams to get a correct score?

    127
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Karin Muller
    Favourite Karin Muller
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:40 PM

    @Kieran Staunton: yes but his place is gone by then

    99
    See 5 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Kieran Staunton
    Favourite Kieran Staunton
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:53 PM

    @Karin Muller: that’s shocking. As hard as it is on him and many others, he has the coming year to set it right. The system is far from perfect and I hope he takes the coming year to get what he wants!

    36
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Philip Kelly
    Favourite Philip Kelly
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:53 PM

    @Kieran Staunton: and you have to wait till next year to get in to college with the resit result.

    23
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Caoimhín
    Favourite Caoimhín
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:06 PM

    @Karin Muller: Look at the bright side. He could have done worse of he had to sit an exam. Every year people lost out on places but this year everyone have a reason.

    47
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave keeley
    Favourite Dave keeley
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:06 PM

    @Kieran Staunton: not really a reasonable option, the absence of tuition etc, would not give the same results as would have been reasonably expected

    12
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean O Callaghan
    Favourite Sean O Callaghan
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 10:29 PM

    @Kieran Staunton:
    Good man Kieran. Sensible comment.
    Whiners whine etc etc etc…..

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Tee Vee
    Favourite Tee Vee
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:54 PM

    I don’t think that saying private school students have been ‘significantly disadvantaged’ by a public process is going to garner much sympathy.

    259
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Dave keeley
    Favourite Dave keeley
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:08 PM

    @Tee Vee: many kids attend such schools because public schools fail some students and for a host of other reasons

    177
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Big Smokey
    Favourite Big Smokey
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 11:34 PM

    @Tee Vee: I was forced to put my youngest son into Bruce as he was completely useless in his school and did nothing. his teachers told me I should expect a max of 300 points. While I could barely afford it, the grind school environment is way more intensive and he got 480.

    Some kids just need that different environment.

    122
    See 1 more reply ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute FrustratedASDMum
    Favourite FrustratedASDMum
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 2:27 PM

    @Tee Vee: I was friends with a girl who took a year out after finishing 6th year in her old school so she could work to raise the money to pay for The Institute. Not everyone there was born with a silver spoon in their mouths. Many parents make serious sacrifices to send their kids there because they want to give them the best chance.

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Virgil
    Favourite Virgil
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:50 PM

    They can sit the Leaving Cert in November

    105
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute El Sparko
    Favourite El Sparko
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:59 PM

    @Virgil: and get a 10% discount for another course of grinds! 15% if you take more than 3 subject courses!!

    52
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Saorlaith
    Favourite Saorlaith
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:10 PM

    60% of my classes grades were reduced – some by more than one grade. Its awful.

    105
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Canyon
    Favourite Canyon
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:28 PM

    @Saorlaith: maybe you marked too high.

    78
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Saorlaith
    Favourite Saorlaith
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 10:01 PM

    @Canyon: I didn’t. I gave the kids the grades I truly believed they would have gotten if they sat their exams.

    55
    See 3 more replies ▾
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Sean O Callaghan
    Favourite Sean O Callaghan
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 10:33 PM

    @Saorlaith: Do you read palms as well?

    25
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lao Tzu
    Favourite Lao Tzu
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 3:21 AM

    @Saorlaith: ‘classes’ grades; ‘Its’ awful? Are you really a teacher?

    11
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Denis Logan
    Favourite Denis Logan
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 10:25 AM

    @Maalouf: a really unpleasant comment

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Caddyshack
    Favourite Caddyshack
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:49 PM

    Some students are disappointed every year but this time they have a system to blame. It’s the best that our education system could deliver this year. It’s a bit rich, pardon the pun, for a profit making business to be blaming others for this years results probably to safeguard future business. I felt that the original graded model would deliver a more accurate spread of results but am pleased for high ability students in disadvantaged schools who rightly so were not penalised because they live in certain areas – best of luck to them all

    89
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cherian George
    Favourite Cherian George
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 7:19 AM

    @Caddyshack: If all public schools are not equal that is gross oversight and incompetence of the department of education and the Minister in charge.

    The Govt cannot penalize hardworking students for their incompetence

    9
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Thomas
    Favourite Thomas
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:39 PM

    “Voluntary secondary schools”…. Can’t see anything that is voluntary when they charge the prices they do.

    68
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute John Moylan
    Favourite John Moylan
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 8:49 PM

    @Thomas: you volunteer to pay for it, thats the voluntary bit. Nothing wrong with that.

    130
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Ciaran O'Mara
    Favourite Ciaran O'Mara
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 10:26 PM

    @John Moylan: they are voluntary in the sense that religious orders and charities set them up. Some are fee paying today but most are in the free secondary scheme since 1967 .

    14
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jonnie Marre
    Favourite Jonnie Marre
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:30 PM

    Sit the exams in November! Simple!

    51
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Trevor J Coonan
    Favourite Trevor J Coonan
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:07 PM

    Will these students be able to repeat the lockdown next year?

    32
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Padro Touche
    Favourite Padro Touche
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 9:16 AM

    Private schools are one of the major pillars elitism in this country. The majority of saps who send their kids to those schools do so for status and legacy reasons as opposed to good grades. I don’t mean to spite the students when I say that there’s an element of social levelling here.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Maurice Frazer
    Favourite Maurice Frazer
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 9:03 AM

    It just shows up the bias in marking up private schools.

    15
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Cherian George
    Favourite Cherian George
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 7:16 AM

    @pat seery: And Pat when did Money buy grades and how. If parents put up money for a Private school it is not because we had excess money. We sacrificed and priortized

    This Govt is clearly playing politics with these teenagers lives. The Minister thinks they can get away with this by giving more grades to the majority. This Govt has no sense of justice and should resign and leave.

    17
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Gary Kearney
    Favourite Gary Kearney
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 10:04 AM

    @Cherian George: Playing politics with grades, that’s a bit rich.

    3
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Bikes rule the world
    Favourite Bikes rule the world
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 11:25 AM

    @Cherian George: Get over yourself, Everyone deserves a chance at 3rd level if they have the points, not just your precious little darlings

    5
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Jonnie Marre
    Favourite Jonnie Marre
    Report
    Sep 10th 2020, 9:30 PM

    Sit

    6
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry McCormick
    Favourite Barry McCormick
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 7:17 AM

    Neither are educators. She’s ex HR and he’s an accountant. Let’s hear from the teachers who see good students grades as success.

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Lao Tzu
    Favourite Lao Tzu
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 3:29 AM

    Why do so many people use ‘pupil’ and ‘student’ interchangeably?

    1
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Mick Hyland
    Favourite Mick Hyland
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 7:06 AM

    @Lao Tzu: talk about splitting hairs! At leaving cert age either word seems appropriate.

    2
    Install the app to use these features.
    Mute Barry McCormick
    Favourite Barry McCormick
    Report
    Sep 11th 2020, 7:18 AM

    @Lao Tzu: Wu Wei

    2
Submit a report
Please help us understand how this comment violates our community guidelines.
Thank you for the feedback
Your feedback has been sent to our team for review.

Leave a commentcancel

 
JournalTv
News in 60 seconds