Tempestuous tale of Magill magazine and Ireland’s bewildering 1980s told in new book
A new book by Kevin Rafter chronicles the history of the Irish magazine Magill and its founder Vincent Browne during the 1980s. The book explores the magazine's role in investigative journalism and the complex legacy of its founder.
Why it matters
It documents a significant period in Irish media history and the evolution of investigative journalism in the country.
Next year will mark 50 years since the foundation of Magill magazine by the journalist Vincent Browne.
Its offices were next door to O’Donoghue’s pub in Dublin, above a fried chicken outlet. It was six months before the magazine had a telephone line: such was the Ireland of the 1970s.
From unpromising beginnings, the magazine flourished in the 1970s and 1980s, breaking big stories about the Arms Trial, planning corruption and the Kerry Babies case. It also gave a break to journalists and authors who would become significant figures in Irish media afterwards – among them Fintan O’Toole, Gene Kerrigan and novelist Colm Tóibín.
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