Speech by Taoiseach, Micheál Martin on the occasion of the Tommie Gorman Memorial Lecture 30 April 2026 InterContinental Hotel, Dublin

Speech

Speech by Taoiseach, Micheál Martin on the occasion of the Tommie Gorman Memorial Lecture 30 April 2026 InterContinental Hotel, Dublin

• From: Department of the Taoiseach

• Published on: 30 April 2026
• Last updated on: 30 April 2026

Thank you, Mark, and thanks to everyone in Co-operation Ireland for inviting me to speak today.

Thanks also to Ceara, Joe, Moya, and all of Tommie's family and friends.

Mo bhuíochas libh ar fad as a bheith anseo anocht.

Is mór an onóir dom a bheith in bhur dteannta chun saol agus saothar cheann de na craoltóirí seirbhíse poiblí den scoth dá ghlúin a cheiliúradh, mo chara, Tommie Gorman.

By any measure, Tommie Gorman was a giant of Irish journalism.

Across a remarkable 41-year career he made a sustained and important impact on the discussion and understanding of some of the most fundamental issues which have confronted our country.

He brought a relentless search for facts and a sharp intellect when addressing issues at local, national and international levels.

He believed in the central role of journalism in creating informed debate. Always operating to the highest ethical standards, he refused to go chasing cheap headlines, believing that short-term, trivial or agenda-driven reporting served no positive purpose.

He was a tolerant and positive person who never missed an opportunity to connect people and to empower the public.

His work in Europe and Northern Ireland often involved dealing with highly complex treaties and negotiations and he always insisted that the public must be allowed to see this complexity.

To me he always sounded as if he was following the dictum of Albert Einstein, who said that difficult ideas should be communicated "as simply as possible, but no simpler."

Many fine eulogies were given for Tommie when he passed, and the question for us today is how do we best honour such a substantive figure?

I have no doubt that he would want us to talk about the issues and values he devoted himself to. He would want us, and particularly me, to say something substantive.

In fact, he would be highly unimpressed if all we did was tell stories.

I will try to honour this, and address his deep engagement with Europe, with the role of journalism in modern society and with the challenge of building shared and lasting peace and prosperity on this island.

But firstly, it is important to remember that the source of Tommie's professional work, the place where his values came from, was a passionate commitment to family and community.

Sport was one of the ways we could see this - with his support for Sligo Rovers having a depth and colour to it that always shone through.

The core of his interview with Roy Keane - the reason why it remains remarkable to this day - was the incredible sincerity of his questions and his effort to prevent a new national division.

After his work on The Western People and as North-West correspondent for RTÉ, Tommie had already shown his ability to show the colour and shade of local and regional life.

For me, his 12 years reporting from Brussels showed qualities which are perhaps more important than ever.

It was a time of multiple Presidencies of the Council for Ireland and included the negotiation of two Treaties, often dramatic budget and reform debates, as well as the expansion of the Union in a range of new areas.

The tradition of top-quality reporting from Brussels, something which has continued, is one of the most important elements of the Irish people being able to stay informed, about a Union which is central to our ability to

influence a wide swathe of economic, social, environmental and international issues.

At a moment when basic democratic values are under attack and a new imperialist war is being waged against a European state, Europe cannot be allowed to be pushed to the edge of our public discussions.

Nothing could be more damaging to our public interest than to allow political debate on Europe to descend to the level which has caused such historic damage in Britain.

I very much understand that maintaining a significant capacity to report in a meaningful way from Brussels is expensive - but equally, it is exactly this type of reporting which establishes the value of professional journalism.

Journalism which operates to clear standards, demands ethical behaviour, is independent and provides secure employment is a public good, and one which we should do all we can to support.

The fact that it is critical to democratic societies can be seen in how often parties of the extreme right and left target independent journalism both in opposition and in government.

Good journalism matters in a very real and practical way, and two things are particularly important.

First, we need to empower ourselves to discern better what is true and what is false.

People of all ages and from all backgrounds are vulnerable to misinformation and disinformation.

It is corrosive, it destroys real debate and it undermines the ability to identify and address real issues.

Only a few years ago there was a saying that 'a picture never lies'. Today, nothing of the sort can be said.

Last year, we published Ireland's National Disinformation Strategy. It places a strong emphasis on education and media literacy, recognising that people need the skills to identify misleading material.

We are not trying to tell anyone what to believe, but everyone should have the ability to see through the tidal wave of half-truths, misrepresentations and inventions which are so often present.

This is being supported in practical ways, including dedicated funding for media literacy initiatives, fact-checking expertise and research, as well as coordinated work across sectors to build resilience to disinformation.

It is important to understand that disinformation is not new - in fact, it has appeared in our politics on many occasions.

For over 50 years, every vote on Europe has been accompanied by claims of an imminent famine and the installation of nuclear missile silos on O'Connell Street.

The fact that we have recently started to see people outside the country trying to distort our debates is not yet alarming, but it is serious.

While AI provides rapid access to many skills and much knowledge, a well-informed human with the ability to check AI's claims is essential.

The reality of AI error and hallucinations is something everyone acknowledges.

With disinformation now being turbo-charged, with the need for people to check the technology we rely on and with shared forums for discussion and information reaching fewer people, if we value our democracy, we have to take this seriously.

Secondly, we need to protect the integrity of high-quality, ethical journalism.

That means valuing a strong, independent media sector that is supported by regulation. It further highlights the importance of media plurality and diversity.

More specifically, it requires support for journalism in ways such as the varied and practical funding schemes being run by Coimisiún na Meán which recognise that good journalism matters, no matter where people read, watch or listen to it.

An Coimisiún is a large and still young organisation, so at present what we have is great plans, initiatives which look promising, but we have to keep paying attention.

At the moment the focus is on building supports that genuinely reflect the needs of the sector and the public.

One key step was the introduction of the Local Democracy and Courts Reporting schemes.

These schemes provide direct support for local reporting, helping to ensure that coverage of courts and councils remains part of everyday community life. That might sound straightforward, but it is vital.

When people can see what is happening in their own communities, it strengthens democracy, builds understanding and a sense of shared experience.

Other schemes such as the Digital Transformation scheme and the News Reporting scheme seek to respond to the fact that the media sector is not standing still.

A key part of this approach is platform neutrality. Many news organisations now move easily between print and digital, reaching audiences in different ways.

These efforts are about sustainable reliable journalism that reflects the communities in all their diversity where it comes from, and that helps us all understand one another.

Empowering people to engage with European debate and promoting the values of journalism were central to Tommie's work, so too was his profound commitment to helping people in different parts of this island and in different communities to understand each other and overcome historic divisions.

The Shared Island Initiative which I launched is built on the idea that we have to start building much deeper understanding and engagement.

After many wasted years, it aims to realise the full promise of the Good Friday Agreement through practical co-operation and improved connections between people across the island of Ireland.

The Shared Island Fund will be supporting all-island reporting. This is to ensure that we don't only hear news on what is happening in Stormont or the Dáil or on the streets of Cork or Coleraine during a crisis but that the news, the regular daily news, better reflects politics and life across the island of Ireland.

Through a three-year programme costing €14 million, Coimisiún na Meán, which has been charged with administering it, is working to encourage cross-border collaboration and cultural exchange, and to support new voices to create content that reflects the richness and diversity of life across the island.

Whether through the creation of new broadcast content, support for emerging talent, or strengthening cross-border journalism, the aim is to make those connections part of everyday life because, as Tommie knew so well, when people are better informed about each other - when they hear each other's stories in a balanced and truthful way - it becomes easier to find common ground, and take the first steps and the next steps in building reconciliation and a better, shared future for all on the island of Ireland.

These are core values shared by Co-operation Ireland with its vision of 'a peaceful and stable island where people of all backgrounds live and work together for a better future.'

Tommie spoke to all ages, but he was especially passionate about the role young people can play in shaping the future of this island, and the power of harnessing their potential to realise this.

I know he took a keen interest in Co-operation Ireland's All-Island School Choir Competition, promoting unity, friendship, and peace through music among young people across Ireland.

He understood the importance of speaking with and not at young people; of listening and ensuring different perspectives were recognised and represented fairly and with great sensitivity.

His work in bringing people together to promote greater understanding and respect across religious, societal, cultural, and political divisions chimes with the core of Co-operation Ireland's philosophy.

In June 2023, Tommie moderated a discussion on Northern Ireland at a Co-operation Ireland event in the Merrion Hotel.

This was during the negotiations on the restoration of power-sharing in Stormont. It was a testament to the trust held in Tommie that the most senior figure in the DUP was willing to travel to Dublin in this critical time, to sit down to be interviewed in a room of people, many of whom did not agree with their views.

The Government's relationship with Co-operation Ireland goes back decades and they are a current Strategic Partner of the Government's Reconciliation Fund.

Underpinned by principles of partnership and empowerment, a key priority for the Reconciliation Fund is support for younger generations affected by the legacy of division in Northern Ireland.

Co-operation Ireland has really embedded this approach across their work also to repair and renew relationships both on a cross-community and cross-generational level.

I was delighted in 2022 that Tommie made his own contribution to the work of the Government's Shared Island Initiative, when he moderated the launch of the National Economic and Social Council's comprehensive report which revealed significant support for an all-island approach to key strategic challenges.

As with all Shared Island research, those findings are informing how we advance the Initiative as a whole, and how we work every day with partners in Northern Ireland to identify opportunities to deepen mutually beneficial co-operation and build long-lasting connections, underpinned by the Good Friday Agreement.

That is why we have strengthened our ambition for all-island investment co-operation and collaboration and have backed this up by doubling the Shared Island Fund to €2 billion.

Of equal, if not more importance, is the investment we are making in the intangible - in the people and relationships that are the foundation of a shared future - for instance, through our expanded Civic Society Fund and Creative Ireland-Shared Island programmes.

We are taking a further step to foster those relations through the new Shared Home Place programme, which invites everyone to explore the rich tapestry of traditions that have shaped this island as our shared home.

At that launch of the NESC report in 2022, Tommie spoke powerfully about his personal optimism and how, living and working in Northern Ireland for twenty years deepened that optimism.

Tommie said that even on the worst days, he was always conscious that things were getting better overall.

This optimism is reflected in a passage from his autobiography where Tommie recounts how he kept a copy of the book Lost Lives on his bedside locker. This authoritative reference work documenting each of the men, women, and children who died as a result of the Troubles is an invaluable if difficult read. But for the ever-optimistic Tommie the book had a more significant value. He wrote:

"On the many days when different political factions were indulging their verging-on-limitless capacity to argue, it served as a reminder of the wondrous in our midst: the awful killing that was a blight on our island and beyond for three decades is over. That's the miracle of our times that flowed from the Good Friday Agreement."

My government is determined to harness and build on that sense of optimism, and on the commitment shown by Tommie and so many others to peace and reconciliation and the daily work of making life better for people across this island.

Go raibh maith agaibh.