Fintan O'Toole

Fintan O'Toole (born 1958) is a columnist, literary editor and drama critic for The Irish Times.[1][2] He has written for the paper since 1988. O'Toole was drama critic for the New York Daily News from 1997 to 2001 and is a regular contributor to The New York Review of Books. He is an author, literary critic, historical writer and political commentator, with generally left-wing views. His recent books have focused on the rise, fall and aftermath of Ireland's 'Celtic Tiger'.[3] He has been a strong critic of political corruption in Ireland throughout his career.

O'Toole was born in Dublin,[2] grew up in a working-class family and was educated at University College Dublin.[4]

In 2011 he was named one of "Britain's top 300 intellectuals" by The Observer,[5] despite not being British or living in Britain.

In 2012 and 2013 O'Toole was a Visiting Lecturer in Irish Letters at Princeton University, and contributed to the Fund for Irish Studies Series.[6][7]

Career

O'Toole was born in Dublin on 16 February 1958 and educated at Scoil Íosagáin and Coláiste Chaoimhín in Crumlin (both run by the Christian Brothers) and at University College Dublin, where he studied English and Philosophy. He became drama critic of In Dublin magazine in 1980. He joined the Sunday Tribune on its relaunch by Vincent Browne in 1983 and worked as its drama critic, literary editor, arts editor and feature writer. From 1986 to 1987 he edited Magill magazine. He joined The Irish Times as a columnist in 1988 and his columns have appeared twice-weekly ever since. He took a sabbatical in 1990-1991 to work as Literary Adviser to the Abbey Theatre. In 1994 he was one of the presenters for the last season of BBC TV's The Late Show. From 1997 to 2001 he was drama critic of the Daily News in New York. In 2011 he was appointed as literary editor of The Irish Times.

Views

O'Toole has criticised what he sees as negative attitudes towards immigration in Ireland, the state of Ireland's public services, growing inequality during Ireland's economic boom,[8] the Iraq War and, the US military's use of Shannon Airport, among many other issues. In 2006 he spent six months reporting for The Irish Times in China.[9]

His former editor, Geraldine Kennedy, was paid more than the editor of the UK's top non-tabloid newspaper The Daily Telegraph, which has a circulation about nine times that of The Irish Times. Later, O'Toole told a rival Irish paper, the Sunday Independent: "We as a paper are not shy of preaching about corporate pay and fat cats but with this there is a sense of excess. Some of the sums mentioned are disturbing. This is not an attack on Ms Kennedy, it is an attack on the executive level of pay. There is double-standard of seeking more job cuts while paying these vast salaries."[10]

In June 2012 O'Toole compared the Constitutional Convention to the Citizens Union, a reformist political organisation which Tammany Hall did not bother suppressing so long as it did not threaten its hegemony.[11]

Political ambitions

In January 2011 O'Toole suggested that he might run for a seat in Dáil Éireann as an independent candidate. On 29 January 2011 he announced his decision not to do so.[12]

Bibliography

Writings

Awards

External links

See also

References

  1. ↑ External Links:. "Irish Times Articles by/concerning F.O'Toole". IrishTimes.com. Retrieved Nov 2012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help)
  2. 1 2 "Fintan O'Toole - Personally Speaking Bureau". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  3. ↑ O'Doherty, Cahir. "Who sank the Celtic Tiger?". irishcentral.com. Retrieved 29 November 2012.
  4. ↑ McCarthy, John-Paul. "2003 interview with Fintan O'Toole". The Science and Art of Communications. http://penhire.ie/. Retrieved 29 November 2012. External link in |publisher= (help)
  5. ↑ Naughton, John. "Britain's top 300 intellectuals". 8 May 2011. The Observer.
  6. ↑ "Fintan O'Toole, Lewis Center for the Arts". Retrieved 8 May 2015.
  7. ↑ Princeton.edu News "Theater critic O'Toole to give Robert Fagles Memorial Lecture" accessed November 2012
  8. ↑ The Irish Times - Tuesday, 3 August 2010, "Inequity the bedrock of McDowell's 'Republic' "
  9. ↑ "The Corporate Media - Part 1, interview with Fintan O'Toole,". http://www.mediabite.org/. Retrieved Nov 2012. Check date values in: |access-date= (help); External link in |publisher= (help)
  10. ↑ "Irish Times staff revolt at editor and directors' 'indefensible' salaries", Irish Independent, 7 August 2005
  11. ↑ O'Toole, Fintan (26 June 2012). "Tammany Hall lives on in feeble reforms". The Irish Times. Retrieved 5 July 2012.
  12. ↑ O'Toole, Fintan (29 January 2011). "The decision that I made on contesting this general election". The Irish Times.
  13. ↑ Roddy Doyle’s ‘The Guts’ named novel of the year Irish Times, 2013-11-27.
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