Donal MacIntyre

Donal MacIntyre is one of Ireland's best known investigative journalists.

He was born in 1966 and grew up in Ireland and the USA. He was a sporty kid and represented Ireland in canoeing at the World Championships. Donal's highest world ranking was 11th.

He studied in Dublin and London, later completing a Masters degree in Communication Policy at City University.

Initially employed in print media, he worked as a news reporter for The Sunday Tribune and later with The Irish Press in Dublin. He worked in finance journalism, sports and news and but did his first investigations into the Law Society there which were faced with allegations of restrictive practises. He has written for The Guardian, The Mail and New Statesman among many other publications.

His first work in television was for the award winning BBC investigative sports strand, On-The-Line in 1993. Using undercover tactics he investigated cruelty in greyhound racing in Ireland, Spain, the UK and the US. . For this programme he won awards in both Ireland and the U.S.A. and seven people were convicted of animal cruelty. He then moved from the BBC to ITV's BAFTA winning World in Action investigative programme. Donal was to win two Royal Television Society Award for a film on drug dealing by night-club bouncers.

His profile led him to being poached by the BBC to front a major undercover series. ` MacIntyre Undercover ` was screened in November 1999 and covered organised football violence, the fashion industry, abuse within care homes and Nigerian con men.

The programme's greatest triumph was when after a month long trial, two dangerous Chelsea football hooligans that had been secretly filmed by the programme, were convicted of conspiracy to commit violent disorder and affray . They were sentenced to seven and six years respectively, in November 2000, and were banned from attending football matches for 10 years.

He wrote an on-the-hoof diary account of his journey as one man leading four lives, which was published by BBC, and sold 80,000 copies.

In June 2001, he presented a BAFTA nominated documentary on the Oklahoma bomber, Timothy McVeigh.

Police criticism of his care programme which had changed Government policy led to legal and a public service celebrity death match between the BBC and the Kent Police. Mac Intyre sued the Police for libel and won an unprecedented legal victory which consolidated his reputation for hard hitting and sturdy investigative journalism.

MacIntyre gave his five figure libel winnings in the £750,000 action to three charities in the sector.

While preparing for a new series in 2002 of `MacIntyre Investigates` for BBC 1 Mac Intyre was enlisted to put his sporting accolades to the test when he presented the landmark series : Wild Weather, with the BBC science department. It was broadcast in the USA and 50 other countries. The series was nominated for a BAFTA.

His further investigations into Street crime, sex slaves and the illegal trade in wild animals revealed remarkable insights and put Mac Intyre into considerable danger.

Mac Intyre lectures around the world bringing to large audiences of students and journalists his unique brand of commitment journalism.

MacIntyre's first project for FIVE on credit card fraud as part of the ` MacIntyre UK Undercover` strand got a record audience. His subsequent investigations for the strand involved abuse in elderly and learning disabled care homes were acclaimed and his new `MacIntyre's Millions ` strand was praised for its exposes on the trade in endangered animals, the trade in stolen organs and trade in arms in Eastern Europe. Convictions in a UN court in Kosovo followed as a result of the investigation.

As a reporter and athlete, director and campaigner Mac Intyre has always pushed the boundaries. Unable to go undercover in the UK himself in an expose on care homes, Mac Intyre employed his brother, Tadhg, an international athlete, and psychologist to go undercover. Together they made a formidable team and produced one of the most thought provoking and powerful documentaries of 2003.

MacIntyre was one of the architects of the `Secret Policeman` - the famous documentary exposing racism at a Police training school.

His directing debut, ` A Very British Gangster` was selected for competition in the prestigious Sundance film festival - a rare achievement for the first time director. Its widely acclaimed appearance there was followed up with numerous international awards as a director after thousands viewed the film in cinemas in France, Spain and the UK.

In 2007 when he presented an anthropology travel series living with tribes around the world including the Insect Tribe of Papua New Guinea and the Sea Gypsies of Borneo in the `Edge of Existence` for Five and Discovery.

His harder edge was apparent in another series of `MacIntyre's Underworld` and a new live crime series ` Street Crime Live` which saw MacIntyre have to endure abuse and bricks live while broadcasting to the nation.

In 2009 he took part in the reality TV show ‘Dancing on Ice'. He continues to present a weekly radio show on BBC Radio 5.