As part of the decentralisation of editorial resources, Agriculture Correspondent Sean MacConnell is moving to the midlands and Marine Correspondent Lorna Siggins is relocating in the West.
Sean MacConnell is now based in Tullamore, Co Offaly, from where he will also provide regional news and features on developments in the midlands area, including Athlone, Longford and Mullingar. In next Thursday's Irish Times he will begin a regular Midlands Report column.
Fermanagh-born, he began his journalistic career in the Roscommon Champion in 1967. He joined the staff of the Irish Press in 1970 and moved to The Irish Times in 1986 where, two years, later he was appointed Agriculture Correspondent. In 1995 he won the European Journalist of the Year Award for his work on the issue of animal welfare.
Lorna Siggins will be based in Galway from December 1st, replacing Uinsionn Mac Dubhghaill, who is pursuing a career as a film scriptwriter. She will also provide news and features from the region, including the "Out of the West" column on Mondays
She joined The Irish Times as a staff news reporter in 1988 and has been Marine Correspondent for the past seven years. A graduate of Trinity College Dublin in 1981, she taught English in the Middle East and travelled extensively before returning to Ireland to work as a journalist with the Irish Skipper magazine. She also contributed to the Sunday Tribune and In Dublin among other publications.
She was a participant on the Journalists in Europe and Journalists in Japan programmes in 1985 and 1989. She is author of Everest Calling, an account of the 1993 Irish Everest expedition, and most recently published an assessment of the former President, Mrs Mary Robinson, entitled The Woman Who Took Power in the Park.