Paddy O'Flaherty (1943 – 27 September 2016) was a broadcaster and journalist for

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 was known for his work on

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 ...

, including

Good Morning Ulster ''Good Morning Ulster'' is the flagship Northern Irish radio breakfast news programme 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 ...

and

Evening Extra ''Evening Extra'' is the BBC's drive time news and current affairs radio programme in Northern Ireland. It is broadcast live on BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle and BBC Sounds on weekday evenings, from 5pm to 6pm. It is presented by Richard Morga ...

, as well as his love for

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

Career

O'Flaherty grew up in the

Ballyhackamore Ballyhackamore () is a townland in County Down, Northern Ireland, it is a suburb of Belfast located on the Upper Newtownards Road. It is also a ward in the UK Parliamentary constituency of East Belfast. ''The Sunday Times'' named Ballyhackamor ...

area of

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

, Northern Ireland. In the 1960s and 1970s, O'Flaherty worked as a journalist for ''

The Irish News ''The Irish News'' is a Compact (newspaper), compact daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is Northern Ireland's largest-selling morning newspaper and is available throughout Ireland. It is broadly Irish nationalist in its viewp ...

''; he covered topics from Irish civil rights to the

column. In the 1990s, O'Flaherty worked as

angling Angling (from Old English ''angol'', meaning "hook") is a fishing technique that uses a fish hook attached to a fishing line to tether individual fish in the mouth. The fishing line is usually manipulated with a fishing rod, although rodless te ...

reporter on the

Your Place and Mine ''Your Place and Mine'' is a Northern Irish radio programme. The programme went on air for the first time in September 1991 and "was commissioned to bring something different to Saturday mornings on BBC Radio Ulster, which was originally music f ...

programme. He also presented the Make Mine Country programme on BBC television and reported on many 'lighter' issues on radio and television. O'Flaherty's last programme on Good Morning Ulster was a discussion of the use of telephone boxes in an age of mobile phones.

Death and tributes

O'Flaherty died on 27 September 2016; his death was announced by

Noel Thompson Noel Thompson is a Northern Irish news journalist with BBC Northern Ireland. He was part of the presenting team for BBC Radio Ulster's flagship morning programme ''Good Morning Ulster''.Peter Johnston, the Controller of BBC Northern Ireland, said that "We were all deeply saddened to hear of the death of Paddy, who for many years was a well-known face and voice across our airwaves and television screens" and that "Paddy was for many years a well-known face and voice across our airwaves and television screens." Northern Ireland

First Minister A first minister is any of a variety of leaders of government cabinets. The term literally has the same meaning as "prime minister" but is typically chosen to distinguish the office-holder from a superior prime minister. Currently the title of ' ...

Arlene Foster Arlene Isobel Foster, Baroness Foster of Aghadrumsee (née Kelly; born 17 July 1970), is a British broadcaster and politician from Northern Ireland who is serving as Chair of Intertrade UK since September 2024. She previously served as First ...

said that she was "really sorry to hear about Paddy's death. Such a gentle person", whilst deputy First Minister

Martin McGuinness James Martin Pacelli McGuinness (; 23 May 1950 – 21 March 2017) was an Irish republican politician and statesman for Sinn Féin and a leader within the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA) during The Troubles. He was the deputy First Minist ...

said that O'Flaherty was "a wonderful broadcaster, fiddler and like myself, a fly fisherman". Séamus Dooley from the

National Union of Journalists The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) is a trade union supporting journalists in the United Kingdom and Ireland. The NUJ was founded in 1907 and has 20,693 members. It is a member of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), Trades ...

said that O'Flaherty was "the embodiment of all that is best in public service broadcasting". He was remembered at the 2016

Phonographic Performance Ireland Phonographic Performance Ireland CLG (PPI) is a music licensing company which controls the public performance, broadcasting, reproduction of recording, and other rights of the recordings under its jurisdiction, which comprise the recordings of seve ...

Radio Awards along with

Terry Wogan Sir Michael Terence Wogan (; 3 August 1938 – 31 January 2016) was an Irish radio and television broadcaster who worked for the BBC in Britain for most of his career. Between 1993 and his semi-retirement in 2009, his BBC Radio 2 weekday brea ...

. His funeral was held at St Gerard's Church in Belfast, and was attended by 300 people. O'Flaherty's wife Brenda died in 2003, and he is survived by his two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OFlaherty, Paddy Male journalists from Northern Ireland 2016 deaths Broadcasters from Belfast Radio journalists from Northern Ireland Year of birth uncertain 1940s births