Sarah Carey

Sarah Carey is an Irish columnist and broadcaster. She writes for "The Sunday Independent"[1] and The Evening Herald and presents Talking Point [2] - a PPI nominated show - on Newstalk and occasionally for TV3. She is a former columnist for The Sunday Times[3] and The Irish Times.[4]

Education and early work

Carey has a degree in History from Trinity College, Dublin, and a post-graduate diploma in Business Studies from the Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School in University College, Dublin (U.C.D.).[5] She has performed freelance PR/marketing work for a number of companies and the political party Fine Gael. She has also worked for Esat Digifone.[5]

Blogging and newspaper columns

In 2002, she began writing the blog GUBU, "An Irish woman's social, political and domestic commentary". Then Sunday Times Irish Editor Fiona McHugh, offered Carey a column after reading the blog. The Sunday Times column ended when she started writing a weekly opinion column for The Irish Times in 2008.[6] The blog also ended in 2008. Carey revealed that in her time at The Sunday Times, opinion columnists had been forbidden from expressing views in favour of the Lisbon Treaty.

Moriarty Tribunal

Witness

Because she had worked as Marketing Coordinator for Esat Telecom, she was a witness at the Moriarty Tribunal.[7][8] In 2004, she leaked information provided to her by the tribunal about political donations made by Denis O'Brien to political parties in Ireland. The information included a letter of thanks to O'Brien from Michael McDowell of the Progressive Democrats. These leaks were published by journalist Stephen Collins in The Sunday Tribune. She denied to her legal team that she had been the source of the leak. When told she would be questioned under oath, she admitted she was the source. Carey said "her motives were political" as the Tribunal had only highlighted O'Brien's donations to Fine Gael, and not those to other parties. The Tribunal judge publicly rebuked her in 2004 for wasting the tribunal's time in identifying the source of the leak, describing it as "irresponsible" and "not remotely justified".[9]

Moriarty Tribunal report and aftermath

When the final Tribunal report was published in March 2011, she appeared on Prime Time, a national TV news analysis show, in which she defended the leak and her support for Mr O'Brien.[10] Days later, she resigned from her job with The Irish Times.[11] In a statement, the editor, Geraldine Kennedy, a former T.D. and Progressive Democrat colleague of Michael McDowell's, said that "her credibility as a columnist had been damaged by the findings of the report of the Moriarty tribunal and its aftermath." She continues to write for other newspapers.[12]

References

  1. Sarah Carey (1 March 2015). "Parents Not Priests Driving Segregation". The Sunday Independent. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  2. "Talking Point with Sarah Carey". Newstalk. 1 March 2015. Retrieved 1 March 2015.
  3. Sarah Carey (11 November 2008). "Don't let Rupert Murdoch decide Ireland's future". The Sunday Times. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
  4. Sarah Carey (26 August 2010). "Why are we paying for two opposing energy policies?". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  5. 5.0 5.1 Bio at her own blog
  6. Sarah Carey (10 October 2008). "Many pensioners are vulnerable, but certainly not all". The Irish Times. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  7. Sarah Carey (24 March 2011). "Lying to tribunal over leak is black spot on my record". The Irish Times. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  8. Dearbhail McDonald (25 March 2011). "Blogger who got caught in Moriarty Tribunal web". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 25 March 2011.
  9. http://www.moriarty-tribunal.ie/images/sitecontent_426.pdf
  10. Dearbhail McDonald (26 March 2011). "Carey quits 'Times' after report furore". The Irish Independent. Retrieved 26 March 2011.
  11. "Sarah Carey resigns as 'Irish Times' columnist" 26 March 2011, The Irish Times
  12. Sarah Carey (20 May 2011). "Thanks to the Queen, we can be friends again". The Daily Telegraph. Retrieved 2 June 2011.

External links