Leading chronicler of upheavals in Irish politics for 40 years

Dick Walsh, who died suddenly on Tuesday evening, was a leading chronicler of the upheavals of Irish politics for almost 40 years.

Mr Walsh (65), recently retired as assistant editor of The Irish Times, was the author of several books on politics, in English and Irish, and was a member of honour of the National Union of Journalists.

He also wrote poetry, served on several occasions as NUJ Father of Chapel in The Irish Times and was an important figure behind the formation of The Irish Times editorial committee, set up to maintain editorial standards within the newspaper.

In recent years, he battled against a debilitating illness to produce his weekly column on Irish politics each Saturday. He retired last October after 34 years on the staff of the newspaper.

Mr Walsh grew up the youngest of four children in a staunch Fianna Fáil family near Cratloe, Co Clare. His father, Seán, was principal of the local national school and his mother, Pauline, was also a teacher.

He began his journalistic career in the Clare Champion in the mid-1950s. There followed spells with the Connaught Tribune in Galway, as a freelance in Dublin and working for local papers in London. He also worked for a time in advertising and spent a year on the staff of the Irish Press, where he met his future wife, Ruth Kelly; they married in 1960.

For some of his time in London in the early 1960s, he was homeless, an experience that gave him a unique insight into the low pay and poor conditions then prevalent in journalism.

He joined the staff of The Irish Times in March 1968. Having started as a sub-editor on the foreign desk, he moved over to reporting on transport issues and then Irish politics.

He was appointed political correspondent in 1973 and political editor in 1985. In this period, he became a familiar figure on RTÉ radio and television.

In 1999, he was appointed assistant editor - politics.

As a commentator, Mr Walsh was a fierce critic of Charles Haughey's influence in Fianna Fáil. He also charted the rise of the Progressive Democrats in the 1980s and consistently argued for the need for an independent and diverse media sector.

While still in Co Clare in 1958, he published a volume of poetry, New Rain on the Leaves. In 1971, he addressed the problems of Northern Ireland in a book written in Irish, Géarchéim in Eirinn, which was completed in two months.

His other books include: Des O'Malley - A Political Profile and The Party - Inside Fianna Fáil, both published in 1986.

Throughout his career he was active in union affairs. As the NUJ noted yesterday, he was "a fearless defender" of the rights of staff and freelances.

He played a key role in negotiating improvements in pay and conditions at The Irish Times and in re-establishing the rights of the NUJ chapel during some of the most turbulent days of the newspaper in the 1970s.

He led the successful union campaign for reform of The Irish Times Trust and, in particular, the disestablishment of the "A" share, controlled by Major Thomas B. McDowell.

About 20 years ago, Mr Walsh was diagnosed with ankylosing spondylitis, a degenerative condition in which the back vertebrae become inflamed and fuse together. This resulted in a progressive curvature of the spine and an increased vulnerability to infection.

However, a change of medication and the use of artificially supplied oxygen allowed Mr Walsh to continue his work far longer than had been first predicted.

Upon his retirement last year, he and Ruth moved down to Thomastown, Co Kilkenny, where they shared their home with eight cats, six dogs and a flock of sheep in the nearby field.