Patsy McGarry is Religious Affairs correspondent with The Irish Times

The Irish Times

The Irish Times is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Kevin O'Sullivan who succeeded Geraldine Kennedy in 2011; the deputy editor is Paul O'Neill. The Irish Times is considered to be Ireland's newspaper of record, and is published every day except Sundays...

. He succeeded Andy Pollak as editor in the mid-1990s. He also is the commissioning editor for articles which are published in the paper's Rite and Reason column every Monday. McGarry also writes occasionally on social issues for the newspaper. He has worked for Independent Newspapers

Independent Newspapers

This article refers to the New Zealand company. For the Irish company formerly of the same name, see Independent News & Media.Independent Newspapers Limited was a media concern in New Zealand.-History:...

, the The Irish Press

The Irish Press

The Irish Press was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995.-Foundation:...

group, Magill

Magill

Magill was an Irish politics and current affairs magazine founded by Vincent Browne and others in 1977. Magill was widely perceived as groundbreaking, specialising in in-depth investigative articles and colourful reportage by journalists such as Eamonn McCann and Gene Kerrigan...

magazine, and freelanced briefly for Raidió Teilifís Éireann

Raidió Teilifís Éireann

Raidió Teilifís Éireann is a semi-state company and the public service broadcaster of Ireland. It both produces programmes and broadcasts them on television, radio and the Internet. The radio service began on January 1, 1926, while regular television broadcasts began on December 31, 1961, making...

 (RTÉ).
A native of Ballaghaderreen

Ballaghaderreen

Ballaghaderreen is a town in County Roscommon. It is located on the N5 National primary road. The town has become a bottleneck on the N5 route in recent years and the opening of the Charlestown bypass down the road has exacerbated the problem...

, County Roscommon

County Roscommon

County Roscommon is a county in Ireland. It is located in the West Region and is also part of the province of Connacht. It is named after the town of Roscommon. Roscommon County Council is the local authority for the county...

, he is a graduate of University College Galway (UCG), and was Auditor of the College's Literary and Debating Society in 1974-1975.

In 1989 he set up the first independent radio newsroom in the Republic at Capital Radio (now FM104

FM104

FM104 is an Independent Local Radio station broadcast across Dublin, Ireland, on the frequency 104.4 MHz. It is operated by Capital Radio Productions Limited , and is a subsidiary of UTV Radio. The station broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract from the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland...

) in Dublin, having previously worked for four years on pirate station Sunshine Radio in the city.

He was theatre critic at the The Irish Press from 1990 until 1995.