Journalism in Ireland is suffering from “very difficult times”, says one of its leading practitioners, Gemma O’Doherty. She told a Limerick university conference about the problems faced by “reporters who work at the coalface of investigative journalism.”

O’Doherty, speaking 12 days ago (I apologise to her and to you for the lateness in catching up), told the audience:

“Those of us who investigate corruption in public office make ourselves and our sources extremely vulnerable to those in power who would intimidate us, monitor our activities, threaten our safety and try to silence us. In return, we receive almost no support. We work in an era where a culture of fear and timidity stalks many of our newsrooms. It has bred a generation of journalists who behave less like dogged agents of the public interest and more like compliant diplomats and spin doctors constantly looking over their shoulders and toeing the party line for compromised or connected bosses.”

O’Doherty knows of what she speaks, having been interrupted in the execution of her duties in 2013 when she was fired by the Irish Independent for having had the temerity to doorstep Ireland’s police chief.

Now freelancing, O’Doherty shows no signs of slowing down. She remains one of her country’s most diligent campaigning investigative reporters.

At Limerick, she spoke of media bosses who “have forgotten or chose to ignore the true function of our still noble vocation: to hold power to account, to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, to defend the public’s right to know, to seek the truth and report it.”

She argued that in such a media environment, what she calls an “era of covering journalism”, democracy is “the greatest loser.”

In a reference to Ireland’s largest media owner, Denis O’Brien (who has the largest shareholding in the company that publishes the Irish Independent), she contended that he “has far too much power and prominence in our small country.”

She contrasted him with her previous Indo employer, Tony O’Reilly, saying that he “invested in decent journalism and good writers.” She said: “He understood newspapers, and while he was not perfect, by and large he left editors to get on with it.”

O’Doherty was also critical of Ireland’s state broadcaster, RTE. She argued that it has “blatantly” failed in its public service remit, listing several examples, such as its “farcical coverage of the general election” and its “bizarre reporting” of the Máiría Cahill case, Slab Murphy and the failure to cover allegations about finance minister Michael Noonan and his role in the foster care scandal.

She went on to mention one of her current investigations - the disappearance in Donegal in 1977 of six-year-old Mary Boyle, Ireland’s youngest and longest missing person.

“The authorities have failed to bring the chief suspect to justice amid allegations of garda corruption and political interference in the case,” she said.

“We need to smash the cosy cartel that exists between the press, power and the police in this country because it is so damaging to the public good.”

But she did not condemn every journalist and every outlet. She spoke of “exceptions in the Irish media who do try to prioritise the interests of democracy in their journalism”, naming the Sunday Times, The Examiner, Irish Daily Mail and the Irish Times along with the online broadsheet.ie and Phoenix magazine. She also pointed favourably to the setting up of the website righttoknow.ie.

Despite the problems, O’Doherty thought it was “a very exciting time to be a journalist” because investigative journalists were “finding new ways to tell stories and release information and high quality content into the public domain by cutting out the middle man.”

She concluded: “Our profession is on its knees, but it is worth fighting for. We have a duty to fight for it. We need to stand up for courageous journalism whose primary focus is the public interest. We need to read it, to buy it, to support it.”