Tributes paid north and south as RTE's editor here announces retirement

Q Radio News/PA

RTE’s retiring northern editor was an essential part of the Northern Ireland peace process, the Taoiseach said.

Tommie Gorman’s versatility and wisdom shone through as he reported with humanity on the possibilities politics offered and the compromises required, Micheal Martin added.

Mr Gorman’s employer said he was the “beating heart” of RTE News after announcing the journalist from Sligo was stepping down this spring after 41 years with the broadcaster.

Mr Martin said: “Tommie Gorman is the quintessential professional who earned the trust of all who dealt with him.

“He understood better than most the possibilities that politics offered and the compromises required to make progress.

“He brought us the daily news of an unfolding peace process. He was an essential part of that process.”

Mr Gorman was RTE’s Europe editor before moving to Belfast in 2001.

He interviewed Roy Keane after the footballer’s row with manager Mick McCarthy in the Republic of Ireland team’s Japan 2002 World Cup training camp on the island of Saipan.

Mr Gorman also tracked down poet Seamus Heaney on a Greek island after he had won the Nobel Prize for Literature.

He was diagnosed with cancer in 1994.

Some years later, Mr Gorman told the Irish Examiner: “Ever since my diagnosis, work has been the ultimate distraction.

“You can lose yourself in work; you can lose yourself in living.

“You need to engage in living.”

He has chronicled the ups and downs of the peace process for two decades.

Stormont First Minister Arlene Foster said Mr Gorman always encouraged others facing difficult circumstances following his own public health challenges.

She said he tried to understand what made political leaders like her tick.

“I will miss Tommie incredibly from the political world but of course I do consider him a friend and that will continue and I wish him and Ceara and all of the family many happy years of retirement.”

SDLP leader Colum Eastwood said: “Tommie has given decades of selfless service to the people of this island, reporting on some of the worst aspects of our recent history, but always seeking to tell human stories about the endless possibilities of our peace.

“I have always been particularly grateful for his commitment to telling the stories of people in Derry and I know the people of this city hold him in high regard as a result.”

The Taoiseach said his knowledge of detail and command of his subjects was unequalled.

“He has left a powerful journalistic legacy underlining the centrality of accuracy, humanity and trust, which were his hallmarks,” Mr Martin said.

RTE’s northern correspondent, Vincent Kearney, will take over as editor in the spring.