Kathy Sheridanlooks at the career of a woman who teased out some remarkable revelations.
Scepticism is rife. Unfair or not, the question most commonly asked is how a 33-year-old woman could apparently spring from nowhere and pull off sensational coups such as persuading a Government Minister to chat about his cocaine problem (in Buswells of all places), cajole a pilot into confessing that he uses it regularly in the cockpit and sweet-talk a dealer into taking her on his rounds.
One might expect that such a thorough-going professional would already have made waves around the media world. However, few in the newspaper sector had ever heard of her until her book, The High Society, was published by Gill & Macmillan in September. And despite her undoubted stints with various television production companies, one senior producer with a prominent independent company, says that he had never heard her name: "In the normal course of events, you'd know about the good researchers. If people described themselves as journalists, you'd definitely be aware of them."
Those who knew the then Justine Delaney as a student recall a bright, solid and witty young woman. A good Leaving Cert in Mount Sackville Convent school in Chapelizod landed her a sought-after place in the pure English course in Trinity College in 1991, where she graduated in 1995 with a 2:1. She followed up with a postgraduate diploma in journalism (a course subsequently elevated to a level 9 qualification, allowing her to put the letters MA after her BA), and then with a legal course in Griffith College in 1999.
Memories of her from those years are mixed. Some recall a child of privilege, with arts-related leanings and ambitions to be a writer, who regarded the acquisition of basic journalism skills as rather beneath her. Others affectionately remember a smart, diligent, personable student, with a sharp, acerbic wit, unusually well presented and classically glamorous by undergraduate standards.
In Trinity, her small class included students like Antonia Logue, Claire Kilroy and Mary Burke, who went on to be successful writers, as well as Paul Lenihan, brother of politicians, Brian and Conor.
She is described in her publicity as a "freelance journalist [ who] has worked in media - TV for the most part - as a researcher/writer/producer for the last decade". But where her writing is concerned, her cuttings file up to recently appeared to consist of the odd piece in business, glossy or in-house magazines.
However, the "professional experience" column in her publicity CV traces a fairly glittering trajectory from "English & Drama teacher" (August 1995 to May 1997), via 10 career moves, most boasting "senior" or such impressive titles in small companies, to her most recent position as "associate producer/presenter" for The High Society, RTÉ 1" .
In between came a stint as a "business writer" with "HW Wilson Co" from August 1997 to March 1998; then on to a job described as "news desk journalist" with RTÉ before becoming "legal researcher" with the station until June 2000. This was followed by a job as "senior researcher" with Tyrone Productions until February 2002. Eight months later, she became a "senior researcher" with Mind the Gap films, from where she moved onto Animo TV as "head development/associate producer" until March 2005. She began work as a "senior researcher" with "Stop.watch TV Dublin", which ended in 2007, with her move into the job of "associate producer/presenter, RTÉ 1" with The High Society.
As with any freelance existence, duties, dates and titles are rarely as neatly arranged as CVs suggest. For example, her job as "news desk journalist" with RTÉ, actually entailed working as a freelance journalist for the station's Aertel arm. Four months later, she was hired as a research assistant in the station's legal affairs department on a six-month contract. Her job as associate producer/presenter on The High Societywas with the Big Mountain Production company, rather than RTÉ 1.
Programmes on which she worked over the years, included Three 60 (the disability series), Last One Standing, Class Reunion, Families in Trouble, Meet the Family, Mother Knows Best and Life Without Me. It appears that she was working on the last four shows in 2005 and 2006 while researching her book and pregnant with her second child.