Eoghan Harris

Eoghan Harris
Senator
In office
13 September 2007 – 25 May 2011
ConstituencyNominated by the Taoiseach
Personal details
Born (1943-03-13) 13 March 1943 (age 81)
Douglas, County Cork, Ireland
Political partyIndependent
Other political
affiliations
Spouses
Alma materUniversity College Cork

Eoghan Harris (born 13 March 1943) is an Irish journalist, columnist, director, and former politician. He has held posts in various and diverse political parties. He was a leading theoretician in the Marxist-Leninist Workers' Party (previously Official Sinn Féin). Harris was a fierce critic of Provisional Sinn Féin, from which they had split, and became an opponent of Irish republicanism. For much of the Troubles, from the 1970s until the 1990s, Harris worked in Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) and was influential in shaping the current affairs output of Ireland's national broadcaster. Later he began writing for the Sunday Independent newspaper.

In the 1990s, he left the Workers' Party and was a short-lived adviser to Fine Gael leader John Bruton, before Bruton became Taoiseach; then an adviser to the Ulster Unionist Party. In the 2000s he supported the Fianna Fáil–led government of Bertie Ahern. Ahern nominated him to Seanad Éireann in 2007, where he served until 2011.[1] He also continued producing some documentary programmes for RTÉ.

Harris was a columnist for the Sunday Independent until 2021. He was sacked after admitting running a fake Twitter account,[2] which harassed journalists he believed were sympathetic to Irish nationalism and Sinn Féin.[3]

Harris is also involved in screenwriting work. He lectures at IADT Dún Laoghaire and teaches a screenwriting workshop.

  1. ^ "Eoghan Harris". Oireachtas Members Database. Archived from the original on 8 November 2018. Retrieved 14 March 2010.
  2. ^ Tevlin, Rory (17 May 2021). "Eoghan Harris dropped as Sunday Independent columnist over fake Twitter account". independent.ie. Archived from the original on 6 May 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  3. ^ "Twitter suspends nine accounts linked to profile used by Eoghan Harris". The Irish Times. 7 May 2021.