David Dunseith (2 October 1934 – 29 June 2011) was a

Northern Irish The people of Northern Ireland are all people born in Northern Ireland and having, at the time of their birth, at least one parent who is a British Nationality Law, British citizen, an Irish nationality law, Irish citizen or is otherwis ...

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

and broadcaster with

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

. He presented

BBC Radio Ulster BBC Radio Ulster is a Northern Ireland, Northern Irish national radio station owned and operated by BBC Northern Ireland, a division of the BBC. It was established on New Year's Day 1975, replacing what had been an opt-out of BBC Radio 4. Acc ...

's '

Talkback Talkback or talk back may refer to: *Talkback (album), ''Talkback'' (album), a 1983 album by the Canadian band the Spoons *Talk Back (Kembe X album), ''Talk Back'' (Kembe X album), 2016 *Talkback, an alternate name for Marvel Comics superhero C ...

' & 'Seven Days' programmes. His career spanned the troubles covering the turbulent and tragic events of recent years from the

Falls Curfew The Falls Curfew, also called the Battle of the Falls (or Lower Falls), was a British Army operation during 3–5 July 1970 in the Falls district of Belfast, Northern Ireland. The operation began as a search for weapons in the staunchly Irish ...

in 1970 to the

Omagh Omagh (; from , meaning 'the virgin plain') is the county town of County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is situated where the rivers River Drumragh, Drumragh and Camowen River, Camowen meet to form the River Strule, Strule. Northern Ireland's c ...

atrocity in 1998. He reported on all the Northern Ireland political initiatives from

Sunningdale Sunningdale is a village and a civil parish in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead. It takes up the extreme south-east corner of Berkshire, England and is adjoined by green buffers including Sunningdale Golf Club and Wentworth Golf ...

to the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

Career

He grew up in

Derry Derry, officially Londonderry, is the second-largest City status in the United Kingdom, city in Northern Ireland, and the fifth-largest on the island of Ireland. Located in County Londonderry, the city now covers both banks of the River Fo ...

. Before pursuing a career in the media, he was a police officer, but moved to journalism in the 1970s. He worked for

Ulster Television UTV (formerly Ulster Television, branded on air as ITV1 since 2020) is the ITV (TV network), ITV region covering Northern Ireland, ITV subsidiary and the former on-air name of the free-to-air public broadcast television channel serving the ar ...

(U.T.V.), presenting many programmes, including UTV Reports and

Counterpoint In music theory, counterpoint is the relationship of two or more simultaneous musical lines (also called voices) that are harmonically dependent on each other, yet independent in rhythm and melodic contour. The term originates from the Latin ...

. During UTV's 50th birthday celebrations in November 2009, he co-presented an edition of UTV Live. David Dunseith is perhaps best known for presenting

's Talkback from 1989 to 2009 – he followed the late Barry Cowan as presenter – but his association with the programme went back even further than that. When it first went on the air in 1986, he was a weekly contributor with an ability to read from a script written on various pieces of scrap paper. He became its main presenter in 1989, going on to establish a huge reputation for straight-talking, no-nonsense, often merciless grilling of interviewees. In 2006 Talkback won a silver Sony Radio Academy Award in the news and current affairs programme category. He presented the 20th anniversary edition of Talkback on Friday 7 September 2006. In August 2009, he ended over two decades of work on

when Radio Ulster reshuffled presenters on its news and current affairs programmes. On 11 May 2011, Dunseith announced his retirement from Radio Ulster while presenting his final Seven Days.

Death

On 30 June 2011 it was announced that Dunseith had died following a lengthy illness and the age of 76. His funeral was held at Star of the Sea Roman Catholic Church in

Strangford Strangford (from Old Norse ''Strangr fjörðr'', meaning "strong sea-inlet") is a small village at the mouth of Strangford Lough, on the Lecale peninsula in County Down, Northern Ireland. It had a population of 475 at the 2001 census. On th ...

before his remains were removed to Roselawn Crematorium.

Personal life

Dunseith married fellow journalist Roisin Walsh and the couple had three sons together. Walsh died in July 2010 from

motor neurone disease Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as motor neuron disease (MND) or—in the United States—Lou Gehrig's disease (LGD), is a rare, terminal neurodegenerative disorder that results in the progressive loss of both upper and low ...

.Former top TV reporter Roisin Walsh dies after long illness
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References

1934 births 2011 deaths Place of death missing BBC newsreaders and journalists Radio personalities from Northern Ireland Royal Ulster Constabulary officers Police officers from County Londonderry Broadcasters from Derry (city) {{NorthernIreland-journalist-stub