Fahy, Jim

Born in Galway in 1946, Jim Fahy was a journalist, broadcaster and documentary maker, and became the voice of the people of the west of Ireland on television and radio.

Jim Fahy (1946-2022) began his journalistic career at the Tuam Herald newspaper before making the move to broadcasting in the early 1970s as RTÉ Western News Correspondent.

Over the following years, his voice became synonymous with life in the west of Ireland. As Western Correspondent for RTÉ News he reported on events such as the building of Knock Airport, the Bishop Eamon Casey revelations, and the Don Tidy kidnapping. He presented the radio series 'Looking West' featuring stories from life in rural Ireland during the 19th and 20th centuries.

His broadcasting career also brought him to foreign shores. He interviewed Mother Teresa in Calcutta in 1979, reported on the latest generation of Irish emigrants to Britain in the early 1980s, travelled to South Africa with former President Mary Robinson in the late 1990s and reported from Ground Zero in New York following the terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.

He was appointed as RTÉ's Western Editor in 2005. He won numerous awards throughout his career including a Jacob's Award in 1984. His documentary, 'Stories from the Twin Towers' won a gold medal at the New York Festivals Television Programming Awards in 2002.

He retired from RTÉ on 31 December 2011.

He died in Tuam on 14 January 2022.