Geraldine Kennedy

Who is Geraldine Kennedy?

Geraldine Kennedy is an Irish journalist, former politician, and former editor of The Irish Times newspaper. She studied at Dublin Institute of Technology, who also awarded her an Honorary Doctorate. She is Adjunct Professor of Journalism at the University of Limerick.

She became the first female editor of The Irish Times upon the departure of Conor Brady in 2002. Kennedy had held several senior positions at the paper; at the time of her appointment to the top post, she was serving as political editor. One of her rivals for the editor's chair was the paper's high-profile columnist, Fintan O'Toole.

Kennedy was barely out of her teens when she began her journalistic career with a regional newspaper, the Munster Express. She moved to the Cork Examiner after less than a year, but spent only a few years there before joining The Irish Times.

On the foundation of the Sunday Tribune in 1980, Kennedy joined it as the paper's political correspondent. The paper's publisher, John Mulcahy, had become familiar with Kennedy when she had contributed to his journal Hibernia. When the Tribune briefly ceased production, Kennedy moved to the Sunday Press.

Early in 1987, Kennedy successfully sued the incumbent Charles Haughey-led Fianna Fáil government for illegally tapping her phone. She was one of fourteen Progressive Democrats TDs elected to Dáil Éireann at the 1987 general election, the first election after the party was founded. She was elected for the Dún Laoghaire constituency and became the party's spokesperson for foreign affairs.