Kevin Myers

Kevin Myers is an Irish journalist. He was born, the son of a medical doctor in Leicester, England in 1947 and began his career in 1971 as a television journalist at RTE, where he reported from Northern Ireland until 1978, and has also reported on conflicts in the Middle East and in Eastern Europe.

Myers writes for the Irish Independent and his column appears regularly in that newspaper. However he formerly worked at the Irish Times. Whilst at the latter newspaper (c.2005), he wrote that unmarried mothers with children were mothers of “bastards”. This led to considerable anger among Irish Times readers and the general public. Myers was forced to apologise through his column, two days after it was published.

In the summer of 2008, now ensconced at the Irish Independent, Myers wrote another offensive article, ‘Africa is giving nothing to anyone apart from AIDS’. His piece blamed African people for the waste of charity, provided by the developed world. This resulted in the Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) contacting the Gardai to complain. Myers had, it was stated, failed to comply with the ICI’s code of practice for incitement to hatred. “(The article) was distorting and seriously insulting…and to the many Africans in particular who are now resident in Ireland”, a spokesman for the ICI said. However the ICI declined further action.

The rugby-loving journalist has been known to work on radio. He has stood in for George Hook on Hook’s programme on the Dublin based Newstalk station and his views are frequently the centre of discussion. Rarely could Myers be described as ‘boring’ and contentious discussion is never far away.

Myers has also tried his hand at television and presented, in the 1990’s, a quiz show for university students on RTE. ‘Challenging Times’ was loosely based on the long-running British ‘University Challenge’ programme. This probably brought him a new audience although this time involving no controversy.

In 2003 Myers had a book published, Banks of Green Willow. He has also written a memoir of his time spent in Ulster in the 1970’s and is a fierce critic of violent Irish republicanism.

Today Myers continues to comment on life in his Irish Independent column. Many may disagree with his views, however he remains one of the most formidable of Irish journalists. His trenchant opinions will, no doubt, be the source of intense debate for quite some time to come.