THE JOURNALIST and commentator Jim Dougal has died at the age of 65. Mr Dougal, who had been battling cancer, was one of Ireland’s best-known journalists who had worked in senior positions in RTÉ and the BBC.
He was based in Belfast throughout the height of the Troubles working as Northern editor for RTÉ and later as political editor for BBC Northern Ireland at key periods of the peace process.
He ran the office of the European Commission in Belfast from 1997 and was later appointed head of the commission’s UK office in London. In recent years, he formed his own company making a number of programmes for UTV.
He also recently completed a programme on the life of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher for UTV.
He was married to Deirdre and had four children – three daughters and a son – and had been living in south Belfast.
