Charlie Bird

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Charles "Charlie" Bird (born September 9, 1949) is an Irish journalist. He is currently the Chief News Correspondent with RTÉ News.

[edit] Life and career

Charlie Bird was born in Sandymount, Dublin in 1949. He was educated at Sandymount High School but left before he completed his Leaving Certificate. After working with pirate radio stations Bird joined the RTÉ newsroom in the late 1970s and since then has covered most of the major domestic and international stories of the last quarter century. On the international front, Bird reported on both Gulf Wars and was the only Irish journalist in Syria for the release of Brian Keenan. For many years in the 1990s Bird was the only point of contact between RTÉ and the Provisional IRA. He witnessed at first hand the ceasefires and the subsequent twists and turns of the peace process. In 1998, Bird and his colleague George Lee broke the National Irish Bank story. He was awarded an honorary doctorate from University College Dublin in 2002.

Charlie Bird was attacked during the Dublin Riots of February 25, 2006 and sensationally spoke of his personal experience - and of the way the attackers knew who he was and called him an "Orange Bastard" - on the RTÉ News broadcasts later that evening. His attack was witnessed by Sunday Independent journalist Daniel McConnell who reported on the event the next day. Bird's appearance on the six o'clock news was criticised by The Sunday Times in its edition the following day, as it felt "Bird makes himself the story".

Radio Telefís Éireann presenters and hosts
Chat show hosts: Gay Byrne | Frank Hall | Pat Kenny | Mike Murphy | Ryan Tubridy
News & Current Affairs: Charlie Bird | John Bowman | Barry Cowan | Donagh Diamond | Sean Duignan | Brian Farrell | Mark Little | John O'Donoghue | Bill O'Herlihy | Olivia O'Leary | Sean O'Rourke
Sports: Eamon Dunphy | Johnny Giles | George Hamilton | Jimmy Magee | Michael O'Hehir | Tracey Piggott
Newsreaders and Announcers: Anne Doyle | Don Cockburn | Derek Davis | Bryan Dobson | Eileen Dunne | Charles Mitchel | Maurice O'Doherty | Emer O'Kelly | Vere Wynne-Jones
See also: List of programmes broadcast by RTÉ