Frank Connolly

Last updated

Frank Connolly is an Irish journalist, author, and communications manager with the trade union SIPTU. [1]

Connolly grew up in Dublin and attended Trinity College Dublin. He previously worked for the Sunday Business Post, Ireland on Sunday, Village Magazine and Irish Mail on Sunday.

His brother Niall is one of the Irish Republicans arrested in Colombia known as the Colombia Three. He is known for his investigative journalism especially while at the Sunday Business Post, his investigation into planning in Dublin led to the Planning Tribunals. [2]

Connolly was an executive director in 2005 of the short-lived Centre for Public Inquiry (funded by Chuck Feeney's, Atlantic Philanthropies), which closed following controversy over his alleged trip to Colombia. [3]

He was accused under Dáil Éireann privilege by Justice Minister Michael McDowell of traveling to Columbia using a false passport with his brother Niall and IRA Chief Padraig Wilson. [4]

In 2009 he became the head of communications for the trade union SIPTU. [5]

Connolly retired from SIPTU in February 2024. [6]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael McDowell (politician)</span> Irish politician (born 1951)

Michael McDowell is an Irish independent politician and barrister. Active in politics since the 1980s, he has held a number of prominent roles in Irish public life. He currently serves as a senator for the National University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Lowry (politician)</span> Irish politician (born 1953

Michael Lowry is an Irish independent politician who has served as a Teachta Dála (TD) since 1987, currently for the Tipperary constituency. He previously served as Minister for Transport, Energy and Communications from 1994 to 1996 and Chair of the Fine Gael parliamentary party from 1993 to 1994.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Liberty Hall</span> Building on Dublins northside, formerly tallest structure in Dublin

Liberty Hall, in Dublin, Ireland, is the headquarters of the Services, Industrial, Professional, and Technical Union (SIPTU). Designed by Desmond Rea O'Kelly, it was completed in 1965. It was for a time the tallest building in the country, at 59.4 meters, (195 feet) high until it was superseded by the County Hall in Cork city, which was itself superseded by The Elysian in Cork. Liberty Hall is now the fifth tallest building in Dublin, after Capital Dock, the Exo Building, Montevetro and the Millennium Tower in Grand Canal Dock.

Events from the year 2004 in Ireland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eamon Gilmore</span> Irish former Labour Party leader (born 1955)

Eamon Gilmore is a European Union diplomat, and an Irish former Labour Party politician. He serves as European Union Special Representative for Human Rights since February 2019. He is also the European Union Special Envoy for the Colombian Peace Process since 2015. He was Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade from 2011 to 2014, Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2014, Chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe from 2012 to 2013, Minister of State at the Department of the Marine from 1994 to 1997. He was a Teachta Dála for the Dún Laoghaire constituency from 1989 to 2016.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael O'Riordan</span> Irish socialist

Michael O'Riordan was the founder of the Communist Party of Ireland (3rd) and also fought with the Connolly Column in the International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dublin lock-out</span> Major industrial dispute which took place in Dublin, Ireland

The Dublin lock-out was a major industrial dispute between approximately 20,000 workers and 300 employers that took place in Dublin, Ireland. The dispute, lasting from 26 August 1913 to 18 January 1914, is often viewed as the most severe and significant industrial dispute in Irish history. Central to the dispute was the workers' right to unionise.

Daily Ireland was an Irish daily newspaper which existed from January 2005 to September 2006 to cover news stories from an Irish republican viewpoint. It was linked to the Belfast local newspaper, the Andersonstown News. In September 2006, the newspaper announced it was ceasing publication, with the 475th and last issue published on 7 September.

The Sunday World is an Irish newspaper published by Independent News & Media. It is the second largest selling "popular" newspaper in the Republic of Ireland, and is also sold in Northern Ireland where a modified edition with more stories relevant to that region is produced. It was first published on 25 March 1973. Until 25 December 1988 all editions were printed in Dublin but since 1 January 1989 a Northern Ireland edition has been published and an English edition has been printed in London since March 1992.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colombia Three</span> Irish men sentenced to prison in Colombia

The Colombia Three are three men – Niall Connolly, James Monaghan, and Martin McCauley – who are currently living in the Republic of Ireland, having fled from Colombia where they had been sentenced to prison terms of seventeen years in 2003 on terrorism charges for training FARC rebels. The incident came during a crucial time in the Northern Ireland peace process and risked damaging it. The three were granted amnesty by a Colombian special court in April 2020. On December 16, 2022, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace revoked the amnesty citing that the trio had not fully divulged the truth about their trip to Colombia in 2001.

The Tribunal of Inquiry into Certain Planning Matters and Payments, commonly known as the Mahon Tribunal after the name of its last chairman, was a public inquiry in Ireland established by Dáil Éireann in 1997 to investigate allegations of corrupt payments to politicians regarding political decisions. It mostly investigated planning permissions and land rezoning issues in the 1990s in the Dublin County Council area. Judge Alan Mahon was the final chair of the tribunal and its other members were Judge Mary Faherty and Judge Gerald Keys. The original chairman, who was the sole member until just before his retirement, was Judge Feargus Flood, giving rise to the original common name of the Flood Tribunal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shell to Sea</span> Activist organisation in County Mayo, Ireland

Shell to Sea is an Irish organisation based in the parish of Kilcommon in Erris, County Mayo.

Niall Stokes is a music journalist who has served as editor of the long-running fortnightly Ireland music and political magazine Hot Press based in Dublin. He has edited the magazine since 1977. He has been a longstanding champion of Irish music, most famously U2 in the late 1970s and throughout the 1980s. He was involved with The Music Show, an exhibition of the Irish music industry held in the RDS in October 2008. He was Chairman of the Independent Radio and Television Commission between 1993 and 1998. He has written several books, including Into the Heart: The Stories Behind Every U2 Song.

The Centre for Public Inquiry was established in February 2005 as a non-governmental body to "...investigate matters of public importance in Irish political, public and corporate life". Its board was made up of Mr Justice Feargus Flood the former chairman of the Planning and Payments (corruption) Tribunal and former High Court Judge, Enda McDonagh the chairman of the board of University College, Cork, broadcaster and former editor of the Sunday Business Post Damien Kiberd and solicitor, writer and human rights campaigner Greg O'Neill. Investigative journalist Frank Connolly was named executive director. His investigations into payments to former government minister Ray Burke, contributed to the establishment of the Planning and Payments tribunal and the Morris Tribunal. It was to have been funded by Atlantic Philanthropies to the amount of €4 million over five years. It closed in April 2006 following the withdrawal of this funding and a critical article by the then Minister for Justice Michael McDowell in the Sunday Independent newspaper.

Fintan Connolly is an Irish film director, screenwriter and producer living in Dublin. Much of his earlier work was in television documentaries which explored social issues in Ireland. He has also made films, including Flick (2000), Trouble with Sex (2005), Eliot & Me (2012) and Barber (2023) through his production company Fubar Films.

Davy Group is Ireland's largest stockbroker, wealth manager, asset manager and financial advisor and has offices in Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway and London. Davy offers services to private clients, small businesses, corporations and institutional investors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Noel Curran</span> Irish CEO, chairperson, radio and television producer and journalist

Noel Curran is an Irish CEO, chairperson and a former radio and television producer and journalist who has been the director-general of the European Broadcasting Union since October 2017. He previously served as the director-general of Raidió Teilifís Éireann from 2011 to 2016. He has worked in the editorial, management and commercial areas of media.

Sarah Carey is an Irish columnist, broadcaster and communications consultant. She writes for the Irish Independent. From March 2011 until August 2017 she presented Talking Point on Newstalk. She is a former columnist for The Sunday Times,The Herald and The Irish Times.

Sam Smyth is an investigative reporter, columnist and broadcaster. He works for the Irish Mail on Sunday and formerly worked for the Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, and Sunday Tribune newspapers.

Patricia King is an Irish trade unionist.

References

  1. "SIPTU Communications Department www.siptu.ie".
  2. Tribunal to rule on Gogarty costs claim Irish Examiner, June 20, 2005.
  3. Sunday Times Ireland – CPI closed down after legal threat. The Times, (25 August 2011).
  4. Connolly says McDowell is on a 'witch hunt' by Paul Anderson, Irish Times, December 7, 2005.
  5. "Controversial journalist gets plum €80,000 job with SIPTU". 2 June 2009.
  6. "Post Script: Declan Ganley's Rivada email convenience for Gript editor".