Martin O'Brien

Journalist & Author, Media consultant. Co-author In Good Time: A Memoir by Harold Good with Martin O'Brien. Past Editor The Irish News. BBC Sony Gold winner.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

A privilege to have worked with Rev Harold Good and Red Stripe Press/Orpen on this exciting revealing book.

[Orpen Press/Red Stripe Press @OrpenPress]

Really looking forward to seeing this one hit the shelves. It's been fascinating working on this - In Good Time: A Memoir by the Rev Harold Good, with @MartinOBrienCom
Learn more about the book here:
https://t.co/Gb6LssW0Qh
@DeirdreRobertsB

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Rodney, @rodneyedwards you have had an impactful & exciting three years leaving the Impartial Reporter in a stronger position to contend with the formidible challenges ahead. Wishing you every blessing and success as you open what I am sure will be another
adventurous & fruitful chapter in a career that has, please God, so much more to achieve, making you a role model for every aspiring journalist.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

A great joy to be present at the opening of the Clonard Solemn Novena @ClonardMBelfast @DownandConnor one of the great demonstrations of faith in these islands. Welcoming the packed congregation in the church and online Fr Brendan Kelly CSsR, the Rector said Clonard is a place where all are welcome. "Each of us is called by God to be a sign of Hope in today's world" ...a world of great uncertainty, he said, that "is confronted by war, terrorism and racism." Amen. #Clonard #Novena

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

So sorry to hear of the death of Sir Desmond Rea RIP. Heartfelt condolences to his wife Maeve & family. Des features prominently in Dr David Gallagher's book on the Methodist contribution to peacemaking. I was privileged to preside at its launch last week when I had my last chat with Des who will be terribly missed. 🙏

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Join me in Conversation with intrepid reporter Eamonn Mallie in #TheSaintPatrickCentre on Thursday week. Eamonn will be signing copies of his bestselling memoir @MerrionPress and reflecting on an absorbing life that saw him lock horns with Margaret Thatcher, get Paisley to spill the beans on his sacking by the DUP and forge a fascinating relationship with Charles Haughey.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

A big thank you to @SJAMcBride &
#TheSaintPatrickCentre for a most engaging & illuminating Conversation last night. Sam's book (with Fintan O'Toole) about the pros & cons of a united Ireland is a must read. Next up Eamonn Mallie @MallieDotCom Thurs May 28 7.30 pm. on his life & times captured in his brilliant memoir. Keep the date.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Just a little reminder all welcome to join my Conversation with top journalist/author @SJAMcBride next Thurs April 30 in #TheSaintPatrickCentre at 7.30 pm. Sam will be signing copies of his books "For and Against a United Ireland" & "Burned." Looking forward to it very much.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Amen.

[Archbishop of Canterbury @ArchbishopSarah]

I stand with my brother in Christ, His Holiness Pope Leo XIV, in his courageous call for a kingdom of peace.

As I prepare to visit Rome later this month to meet and pray with Pope Leo, I am mindful of his call to keep our eyes open to the suffering of the world, and our gaze fixed on our crucified and risen Lord Jesus Christ – the image of the invisible God, in whose image and likeness every human being is made. In him, we recognise that we are children of the one Father and members of a single human family. Prayer is not an escape from the world, nor a turning away from injustice; rather, it is a turning towards God in the midst of it, confronting evil, seeking God’s will, and becoming instruments of transformation and peace.

Read my full statement here https://t.co/TDyRiJY8NS

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

All welcome to join my Conversation with @SJAMcBride about that book @RIAdawson and much more in #TheSaintPatrickCentre Downpatrick Thurs April 30th 7.30 pm. Sam will be signing copies of it & "Burned" @MerrionPress that exposed "cash for ash" scandal.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Congratulations Rory McIlroy on your amazing historic back to back victories at #TheMasters. You are a genuis and a fantastic example. We are all so proud of you.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

@EamonnMallie @Kim_Mawhinney @GerardC76874743 @williamcrawley @SorchaEastwood @derichenderson Amen.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

I'm just thrilled to congratulate my good friend, poet Jim McElroy @JimBMcElroy on capturing a Top 10 prize in the 2025 National Poetry Competition @PoetrySociety. What a feat! 1 of 10 selected from 9,600 poets &
21, 250 poems from 113 countries!
https://t.co/F3SHxZ2aUf

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

https://t.co/S2v8mqSr6Y My Conversation with Bishop Alan McGuckian SJ @DownandConnor at The Saint Patrick Centre, Downpatrick making front page headlines in the latest edition of The Irish Catholic @IrishCathNews out today. @MichaelPTKelly
#TheSaintPatrickCentre

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Looking forward to my Conversation with @mikenesbittni our Health Minister, Strangord MLA & former @uuponline leader (and former @bbcradioulster @BBCnireland colleague) Thursday next the Saint Patrick Centre Downpatrick 7.30 pm.

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

This is the obituary I wrote of Joe Byrne, (pictured below) my precious and dearly missed friend from @QUBelfast days in Lives Remembered in @irish_news on Saturday last February 14.

A SELFLESS SERVANT OF THE PUBLIC, A QUIET PATRIOT AND LOYAL FRIEND
Joe Byrne, from Killyclogher, just outside Omagh, was a selfless public servant and educationalist, devoted husband and father, quiet patriot, loyal friend and person of deep faith.
Having been elected to the Northern Ireland Forum for West Tyrone, he was a member of the SDLP team that negotiated the Good Friday Agreement of 1998 and went on to serve in the Assembly for two terms and as a founder member of the Policing Board.
Before his election to Stormont, Joe had already made his mark in local government. He was elected to Omagh District Council for two consecutive terms, serving as vice-chair in 1994-95 and chair in 1997-98.
Joe was one of my dearest friends for more than 50 years, ever since we met as fresher members of Queen’s University GFC in November 1973.
He was always there for me throughout all the ups and downs, we were frequently on the phone and met up often, and his death leaves a terrible emptiness, not to mention the heartbreaking loss felt by Ursula, his wife of 41 years, his daughters Aoife, a GP, Emer, an orthodontist, and son Eoin, a doctor abroad, and other close family including his brother PJ and sister Geraldine.
Mark Joseph Byrne (always known as Joe) was born in Garvagh, Aghyaran parish near Castlederg, Co Tyrone in 1953, the eldest of three children of Patsy Byrne, a confectionery salesman, and his wife Mary Alice (née McNamee).
He was educated at Laght primary school, St Eugene’s secondary in Castlederg and Christian Brothers grammar, Omagh before graduating in economics from Queen’s University, subsequently qualifying as a teacher from St Joseph’s Training College, Belfast.
Joe secured his first teaching post at St Colman’s secondary in Strabane, the town to where his family had moved in the early 1970s.
He was appointed to a lectureship in economics in Omagh Tech in 1979, where he met his future wife, Ursula O’Reilly from Lisnaskea, on their first day as teachers there.
Joe was keenly interested in current affairs, and politics especially, from his early teens and read The Irish Times and The Irish News daily.
Always eschewing a violent course, he was encouraged by Ivan Cooper to join the SDLP in the mid-1980s, becoming active in the Omagh branch as he and Ursula had made their home nearby.
He served the SDLP ably, diligently and loyally in various positions, including councillor, MLA, Policing Board member, party executive member and chair, for more than a quarter of a century, a loyalty that perhaps could have been more fully reciprocated.
In the 1997 Westminster election, Joe came within 1,161 votes of unseating the UUP in West Tyrone but did not contest again in 2001.
Within months of his election to the first post-GFA Assembly he witnessed the horror of the Omagh bomb, an outrage that shocked and angered him to the core, telling the Assembly: “As a public representative of the people of Omagh, I have to ask ‘What kind of patriotism is this? What kind of humanity allows the bombing of a crowded civilian shopping scene, such as Market Street, Omagh?’”
In 2011, by dint of incredible hard work and, as Joe put it, “wearing out shoe leather” on the canvass, he defied political gravity by regaining for the SDLP the Assembly seat he had lost in 2003, that setback due mainly to the phenomenal amount of time he was devoting to the Policing Board in his passion to deliver a police service all could embrace.
Joe was a passionate GAA man and Tyrone supporter all his life, showing early signs of his outstanding leadership qualities when, as a second year, he coached Queen’s Freshers to their historic All-Ireland football league and championship double in 1976, serving also as a highly capable club treasurer.
And shortly after Queen’s, as a founder member of the modern Strabane Sigersons, he was coaching the full range of youth teams as well as a succession of teams at Omagh Tech.
Fr Kevin McElhennon said in his funeral homily: “What mattered more to Joe than medals or results was how sport was played… as a place of formation as much as competition – a place where discipline, teamwork, fairness and respect are learned.”
He recalled that Joe said the Prayer to St Joseph every day, adding: “His faith didn’t remove struggle from his life, but it gave him the courage to live with integrity and to endure without bitterness.”
Joe Byrne died after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease in Altnagelvin Hospital, Derry on December 30 at the age of 72.
May his gentle soul rest in peace.
Martin O’Brien

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Just to say you may like to read my obituary of Joe Byrne RIP, 🙏🕯my beloved friend of 52 years, in Lives Remembered in @irish_news tomorrrow ( Saturday February 14).

[The Irish News @irish_news]

"Almost 40 years after he served a total of nearly five years as taoiseach, in two periods – June 1981 to March 1982 and December 1982 to March 1987 – it can be shown that Garret FitzGerald's impact was of historic significance and his influence on our political arrangements continues today and will do so into the foreseeable future."

A century after the birth of Garret FitzGerald to revolutionary parents from Belfast and London, Martin O’Brien writes that his greatest legacy is the Anglo-Irish Agreement and its enduring impact 40 years on.

Read more: https://t.co/0HytsYw4KD

[Eamonn Mallie @EamonnMallie]

I’ve rarely met anyone with a family history to that of Harold and his wife Clodagh both of whose families were from the ROI. They had more than a brush with the political forces of the day dating back to the Pre-Treaty and Post - Treaty era. Harold in turn as a clergyman ended up face to face with Republican & Loyalist elements as far back as the mid Sixties. @sharon_scoop @SiobhanMc80 @williamcrawley @HughGillanders @harrycullen @ErvineLinda @BBCGarethG @Robinson_Linds @SorchaEastwood

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Catch in @irish_news today my article marking the centenary of the birth of Dr Garret FitzGerald former Taoiseach @GovIE @dfatirl @FineGael

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

Yes, @MichaelPTKelly, so well said. John RIP was a Titan and unrivaled. Fondest memories of our encounters, especially in my @BBCNI days. Deepest sympathy to Elise and all his sorrowing friends and colleagues. 🙏🙏🕯🕯

[Michael Kelly ن @MichaelPTKelly]

My heart is heavy tonight as we mourn our dear Friend, John. John was a force of nature - he was a man of deep friendship, kind, loyal and great fun to be around. He was a giant in journalism, and gave so freely and generously of himself - particularly helping younger colleagues. His faith was profound, may he find rest now with the God he served day and daily. https://t.co/0W0iBIXDRW

[Martin O'Brien @MartinOBrienCom]

@MichaelPTKelly RIP Fr Adrian 🙏🕯