Fintan O'Toole (born 1958) is a columnist, assistant editor and drama critic for The Irish Times. He has written for The Irish Times since 1988 and was drama critic for the New York Daily News from 1997 to 2001. He is a literary critic, historical writer and political commentator, with generally left-wing views. He was and continues to be a strong critic of political corruption in Ireland, from the Haughey era to the present.
In 2011, he was named one of "Britain's top 300 intellectuals" by The Observer[1] despite not being British.
O'Toole was born in Dublin[2] and educated at University College Dublin (UCD).
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O'Toole has criticised what he sees as negative attitudes towards immigration in Ireland, the state of Ireland's public services, growing inequality during Ireland's economic boom,[3] the Iraq War and the US military's use of Shannon Airport, among many other issues. In 2006, he spent six months in China reporting for The Irish Times.
His former editor Geraldine Kennedy was paid more than the editor of the UK's top non-tabloid newspaper The Daily Telegraph, which has a circulation of about 9 times that of The Irish Times. Later O'Toole famously told the rival Sunday Independent: "We as a paper are not shy of preaching about corporate pay and fat cats but with this there is a sense of excess. Some of the sums mentioned are disturbing. This is not an attack on Ms Kennedy, it is an attack on the executive level of pay. There is double-standard of seeking more job cuts while paying these vast salaries."[4]
In January 2011, O'Toole contemplated running for a seat in the Dáil as an independent candidate. He announced on 29 January 2011 that he had decided against a move into politics.[5]