John Healy (Irish journalist)

John Healy (1930–1991) was an Irish journalist from Charlestown, County Mayo, who wrote for Western People and The Irish Times.

Career[edit]

He joined the Western People in 1948, then moved to Dublin to work for the Irish News Agency, a government-run news service managed by Conor Cruise O'Brien. He worked for a time for The Irish Press group before joining the Irish Times in 1959.^[1] Healy also edited The Dublin Evening Mail for a time.^{[citation needed]}

Healy was a journalist with The Irish Times newspaper, writing the Backbencher column in the 1960s and 1970s. He was a close friend of the editor, Douglas Gageby.^{[citation needed]}

Healy's book No One Shouted Stop (The Death of an Irish Town), published in 1968, chronicled the economic and social decline of rural life in the west of Ireland in a time of widespread poverty and mass emigration. He also wrote Nineteen Acres on the history and lifestyle of his family, who were small farmers.^{[citation needed]}

Healy was a strong Fianna Fáil supporter and one of the most fervent journalistic supporters and admirers of both Donagh O'Malley and Charles Haughey.^[2] Healy's support for the latter caused considerable controversy among his fellow Irish Times journalists, many of whom were outspoken opponents of Haughey.^[2]

Death and legacy[edit]

Healy died 6 January 1991, and was survived by his wife, Evelyn.

In March 2007, a RTÉ radio journalist visited Charlestown and assessed the changes in Healy's hometown in the forty years since the writing of his book.[1]

Honours and places bearing his name include the Western Development Commission/John Healy Awards,^[3] the N5 Charlestown bypass,^[4] and the John Healy Western People Awards.^[5]

Published works[edit]

• The Death of an Irish Town (Mercier Press, 1968)
• Nineteen Acres (ISBN 0906312108, Kennys Bookshops, 1978)

References[edit]