Jim Duffy

Who is Jim Duffy?

Jim Duffy is an Irish historian, political commentator, and served as a policy advisor to then Irish leader of the Opposition, Fine Gael leader Enda Kenny prior to the 2011 general election. He first achieved prominence in 1990 when the contents of his on-the-record interview with then Tánaiste Brian Lenihan, in which Lenihan admitted making calls to the residence of the Irish president seeking to speak to President Hillery to urge him to refuse a Dáil dissolution in controversial circumstances, led to Lenihan's dismissal from government, his defeat in that year's Irish presidential election and the unexpected election of the left wing liberal Mary Robinson as President of Ireland.

Duffy was one of six people chosen to submit international reports on heads of state to Australia's Republic Advisory Committee in 1993. He was an occasional contributor to The Irish Times and the Sunday Independent, and a columnist in Magill magazine, as well as appearing on radio and television prior to his appointment to Kenny's office, but has ceased all media work since that date.