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about/contact Email - neil.michael @ examiner .ie

former car washer, barman, cellar man, labourer, electrical goods salesman, civil servant and currently journalist with 35 years experience as an investigative off-diary reporter, foreign correspondent, feature writer, photographer and news editor.

Titles worked for - as a member of staff or as a stringer - include The Washington Post, Sunday Times, The Press Association, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, Daily Express, the News of the World, The Sun, Mail on Sunday, People Magazine, Heat, Time Out, City Limits, Irish Daily Mail and the London Evening Standard.

In 1999, I started work as Deputy Showbiz Editor at the Daily Express in London. While working there as the paper's Deputy Showbiz Editor, I doubled up as a part time press officer and media adviser for Fair Trials Abroad.

While working at the Irish Daily Mail/Irish Mail on Sunday, I set up Whistleblowers Ireland in 2010. After various roles at Associated Newspapers (Ireland) titles over the years - including News Editor, Chief Reporter and Southern Correspondent - I worked for Kerry’s Eye before starting in 2019, with the company I currently work for as a staff reporter and where I have covered and continued to cover a variety of stories, including a number of some of the most awful tragedies, details of which I sometimes report on for RTE.

In 2021, I was one of a number of journalists who won a Justice Media Award for Human Rights/Social Justice Reporting for coverage of the Mother and Baby Homes - an issue I covered extensively when I worked for the Irish Daily Mail.

I am very much against genocide anywhere in the world but especially in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan.

featured articles

Irish Examiner •

Stardust redress scheme 'makes a shambles of the State apology now', say survivors

After being boxed into a “take it or leave it” offer for the guts of 40 years ago, Stardust survivors say they now face into a redress scheme based on that same “flawed” principle.This week, a redress scheme for survivors of the tragedy, where 48 young people lost their lives following a fire at a north Dublin nightclub in 1981, formally opened.Now that it is open, it is abundantly clear that you have to have been offered compensation from the original tribunal set up in the 1980s to be eligible...
Irish Examiner •

Surge in judicial reviews taken by asylum seekers as Government ramps up deportations

There has been an explosion in the number of judicial reviews taken against the State by asylum seekers, many of them fighting decisions that could lead to deportation.The number of cases has tripled in the space of three years, while legal costs have multiplied by a factor of six.Figures from the Department of Justice show there were 175 judicial reviews taken last year in asylum cases.That was up from just 57 in 2023 and 82 in 2024, as the department ramps up deportation operations.Costs invol...
Irish Examiner •

SNA cuts: Why Irish schools say special education support is being undermined

Earlier this week, the Irish Examiner attended the opening of a new sensory space at Scoil Eoin, a primary school for boys in the Cork suburb of Ballincollig. The invitation was received and accepted far in advance of the storm that erupted as schools across the country learnt of cuts to their special needs assistant (SNA) posts from next September. Scoil Eoin is full of life and colour, with photos and students' artwork adorning its corridors. As the event got under way, sounds of laughter and...
Irish Examiner •

Inside the Savoy Cork revival: Historic music venue reopens in city centre

The occasion marked the end of a months-long battle to save one of Cork’s most famous nightlife venues from the brink of dereliction.Fortunately, the intense preparation for the Savoy’s grand reopening on Valentine's night seems to be paying off. Just a week into the venue’s comeback, and gigs are already being booked for Christmas. For local promoters the Good Room, who are working in conjunction with building owners Clarendon Properties to relaunch the venue on Cork City's St Patrick Street, t...
Irish Examiner •

'Uncharted territory': British monarchy faces existential risk after Andrew arrest

“This is bigger than the abdication of Edward VIII and it could bring down the monarchy.” Andrew Lownie wrote a book last year that rocketed up the best-seller charts, shining a light on the murky dealings of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor and his ex-wife Sarah Ferguson.Lownie’s painstaking work — including several hundred interviews with insiders, classmates, former friends, ex-employees, and British diplomats — revealed in excruciating detail the truth of the endless scandals that have engulfed th...
Irish Examiner •

The Mick Clifford Podcast: Paul Cullen’s powerful search for family and truth

Adoption was big business in Ireland in the middle decades of the last century, in a country where birth outside marriage was considered a stain.

That was the country into which Paul Cullen was born and later adopted.

He has written a page-turning account of his life as an adoptee, Outsider – Survival, Family Secrets and the Search To Belong.Paul is the guest on this week’s Mick Clifford Podcast.

createPlayerEpisode('episode-6996e15b4a6b6137bf7280ea', 'https://feeds.acast.com/public...
Irish Examiner •

The Deirdre O’Shaughnessy Podcast: The Irishman held by ICE and Martin's White House visit

In recent weeks, the story of Kilkenny man Seamus Culleton has come to the fore as an Irishman living and working in America who is being detained by the US immigration police ICE.

He has described the conditions in the detention centre as like a "modern-day concentration camp" but, since his story came to the public's attention, reports have emerged relating to Mr Culleton's past including his estranged daughters and cases before the courts.

While he has been granted a temporary reprieve from...
Irish Examiner •

Cork man who wielded blood-filled syringe at student and demanded money avoids jail

A homeless young man held up a blood-filled syringe to threaten an Indian student doing a master’s degree in Cork as she walked from one college building to another.This happened two years ago, and now at Cork Circuit Criminal Court Judge Helen Boyle has imposed a three-and-a-half-year suspended sentence on 21-year-old Ken O’Sullivan, who is originally from Rylane in Co Cork but was living homeless in Cork City at the time. His only address was at St Vincent’s hostel, Anglesea Terrace, Cork.He p...
Irish Examiner •

TikTok can redact information from confidential documents in appeal against €530m fine

Social media giant TikTok has successfully applied to the High Court for permission to redact certain information from confidential documents to be used in its appeal over a €530m fine imposed on it by the Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) over Chinese access to user information.At the High Court on Friday, Mr Justice Rory Mulcahy was told by Emily Egan McGrath, for TikTok, there had been "broad" agreement between both sides on categories of information underpinning what could be redacted in do...
Irish Examiner •

Partial car details released in Dublin hit-and-run appeal

Gardaí have released partial details of a car involved in a hit-and-run in Finglas, north Dublin, which left a juvenile in a serious condition.The incident, which happened last Tuesday, occurred on the same road where another juvenile, 16-year-old Grace Lynch, was struck and killed by a scrambler three weeks ago.In Tuesday’s incident, a car struck a pedestrian at around 7.10pm on Ratoath Road in Finglas.The victim, a boy, was brought to Temple Street children's hospital, where gardaí said his in...
Irish Examiner •

Two under arrest as Gardaí release picture of assault victim's tattoo 

Gardaí have arrested two men in relation to a serious assault on a man in Dublin’s Temple Bar earlier this week.The sustained attack left the victim in a critical condition and he was placed in an induced coma in hospital. It is understood he came out of coma earlier today.Gardaí have not been able to identify the victim and tonight released an image of the man's blue and white tattoo with the words ‘ceol is beatha’ – or ‘music is life’ – on his right arm.Officers at Pearse Street Garda Station...
Irish Examiner •

'Clear as muck': Government slammed for confusion over SNA roles

There is “no point” in announcing a target completion for a review of special needs assistant (SNA) allocations, a minister with responsibility has said.Minister of State for special education Michael Moynihan repeatedly refused on Friday to say when an ongoing SNA review would be finished, amid schools’ concerns that their allocation could be cut in September.Mr Moynihan also refused to say if he expected any schools to lose SNAs.The department of education “paused” a review of allocations afte...
Irish Examiner •

Searches ongoing at Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home following arrest

Searches of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s former home in Berkshire, England, are ongoing following his misconduct in public office arrest.The former British prince was held in custody on Thursday following accusations he shared sensitive information with paedophile financier Jeffrey Epstein during his time as the UK’s trade envoy.Mr Mountbatten-Windsor, who is the first senior British royal in modern history to be arrested, was held for around 11 hours on his 66th birthday before he was released...
Irish Examiner •

Reality TV stars plead guilty to illegal promotion of foreign exchange trading

Seven reality stars and influencers from shows including Love Island and Towie have pleaded guilty to the illegal promotion on Instagram of foreign exchange trading.Lauren Goodger, 39, Yazmin Oukhellou, 31, Rebecca Gormley, 27, Biggs Chris, 33, Jamie Clayton, 34, Scott Timlin, and Eva Zapico, 27, have all admitted breaking the law when acting as so-called finfluencers.They urged their "significant" number of Instagram followers to sign up to an account offering FX trading tips, Southwark Crown...
Irish Examiner •

Sagrada Familia reaches its peak with completion of soaring central tower

Barcelona’s towering Sagrada Familia basilica reached its maximum height on Friday, though the magnum opus of Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi remains years away from completion.A crane placed the upper arm of a cross atop the Tower of Jesus Christ, the church’s soaring central piece, which now stands 566 feet above the city, the church said.While the unfinished monument is already the world’s tallest church, with Friday’s addition the Sagrada Familia inched closer to being done.The first stone of...
Irish Examiner •

Greece signs agreement with Belgian collector to buy photos of Nazi executions

A Belgian collector who put up for online auction a series of Second World War photographs showing the final moments of 200 Greeks executed by a Nazi firing squad, signed a preliminary agreement with Greece on Friday and has withdrawn the photos from sale, Greece’s culture ministry said.Greece is seeking to obtain the photos after declaring them part of Greek heritage.Culture minister Lina Mendoni announced the preliminary agreement after experts visited the collector, Tim de Craene, in Belgium...
Irish Examiner •

Adare Manor gets green light for 10 lodges ahead of 2027 Ryder Cup

The company that runs Adare Manor has been granted permission to build 10 lodges ahead of the Ryder Cup in 2027.

Tizzard Holdings Unlimited, the operators of the luxury resort, have received permission to build 10 lodges on the grounds of the resort.

The application relates to a development at Graigue, Rathkeale Road, Adare, within the lands of the hotel and golf resort owned by JP McManus.The development will comprise 10 detached, two-storey, three-bedroom self-catering lodges.The lodges will...
Irish Examiner •

Pedestrian in his 60s dies after being struck by lorry in Co Tipperary

A pedestrian has died after being struck by a lorry in Co Tipperary.

The incident occurred on the L8109 road at Ardloman on Thursday afternoon.

Gardaí and emergency services attended the scene at approximately 2.35pm.The pedestrian, a man in his 60s, died at the scene.A garda spokesperson said there were no other injuries reported."The scene has been technically examined. The Health and Safety Authority and the Coroner have been notified," they said.A spokesperson for the HSA told the Irish Ex...
Irish Examiner •

'Dream come true': Cork artist Will Sliney to illustrate Masters of the Universe comic series

It's a dream come true for Cork's Will Sliney — the Spider-Man and Star Wars artist will illustrate a brand-new He-Man and Masters of the Universe comic series launching this summer alongside a hotly anticipated live-action film.

The four-part The Wings of Fate series, set in the film universe of Masters of the Universe, will launch on June 10. The series is penned by the acclaimed screenwriter and comic writer Tim Sheridan, and illustrated by the Ballycotton artist.

The launch will come...
Irish Examiner •

Harris urges unity amid Limerick mayoral impasse

The Government will launch a review of the office of Limerick’s directly elected mayor, the Tánaiste has said, amid tensions between John Moran and councillors that culminated in accusations of sabotage in recent days.Simon Harris said there will always be “teething challenges” in new political positions, with Mr Moran holding the first directly elected mayoralty in the country.Tensions have spilled over in Limerick City and County Council in recent days, with Mr Moran accusing some councillors...
Irish Examiner •

State competency register of builders still to get off the ground four years after laws passed

A statutory register of builders to prove their competence has yet to be delivered, four years on from new laws being enacted.Conor Sheehan, Labour’s housing spokesperson, has criticised the slow rollout of the Construction Industry Register of Ireland (CIRI), which is set to be overseen by the industry group, the Construction Industry Federation.The Government first mooted plans to introduce a statutory competency register in 2014, with legislation passed in the Dáil in 2022.When introduced, it...
Irish Examiner •

Autistic man with emotional age of a child in jail over Christmas

A man with autism and severe anxiety, which renders him with the emotional age of a child, was imprisoned in Cork Prison for nearly a month over Christmas, the Irish Examiner has learned.The man was arrested at his home on December 20 by armed gardaí because he sent emails which were allegedly threatening violence. The 34-year-old, who has struggled to adapt since he left full-time education, had been waiting on a residential placement in the UK through the HSE, but problems with the British fa...
Irish Examiner •

Provisional liquidator appointed to linked companies which own hotels in Cork

A provisional liquidator has been appointed by the High Court to two linked companies which own small hotels in Co Cork.

Mr Justice Brian Cregan appointed John Healy, of Kroll Advisory, as provisional liquidator to Blue Cross Holdings Ltd, which operated the Blue Haven Hotel and Hamlets of Kinsale Bar in Kinsale, and to Larmona Ltd, which operated the Schull Harbour Hotel in Schull. Blue Cross is no longer trading.

The court heard the companies had significant debts, including some €1.5m owed...
Irish Examiner •

'You won’t be able to recognise your face': Cork man threatened to throw acid over ex-partner

A young woman was threatened by her ex-partner that she would not recognise her own face when he was finished throwing a bottle of acid over her. That was the threat made by the young man back in August 2020. On Friday at Cork Circuit Criminal Court — after one week remanded in custody — he was sentenced to two years and three months, backdated to when he went into custody, with the remainder of the sentence suspended.Judge Helen Boyle made it a condition of the suspension of the sentence that h...
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