Paul Williams (Irish journalist)
| Paul Williams | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1964 (age 52–53) |
| Nationality | Irish |
| Occupation | Journalist |
| Notable credit(s) |
Dirty Money: The Story of the Criminal Assets Bureau Paul Williams Investigates—The Battle for the Gas Fields |
Paul Williams (born 1964) is an Irish media personality and writer on crime.
His TV credits include Dirty Money and the self-regarding title Paul Williams Investigates—The Battle for the Gas Fields.
In 2011 he joined the Irish Sun, where he is employed as "Investigations Editor", after the closure of the Irish News of the World.
He previously worked for the Sunday World tabloid newspaper; he moved to the Irish News of the World in 2010 before it was caught up in the News International phone hacking scandal and shut down.
Williams was first educated in Ballinamore and then in Carrigallen (both in County Leitrim). He moved to Dublin in 1984 to study journalism at the Rathmines School of Journalism but dropped out after one year.
Paul Williams is married to wife, Ann, with whom he has two teenage children. He enjoys being among his associates in the pub; these associates are mostly serving or former gardaí, including former garda commissioner Pat Byrne and retired assistant commissioner Tony Hickey, as well as former Minister for Defence Willie O'Dea and RTÉ's Joe Duffy. Williams has been described as "a jealous guardian of his position as top dog among crime journalists".
Williams has been satirised as Paul 'The Hack' Williams on Oliver Callan's Nob Nation sketches on RTÉ Radio.
While on Liveline, Williams denied attempting to link the Republican movement with the criminal underworld. This prompted several people, whom Williams had linked to crime in his articles, to phone in and tell Joe Duffy that Williams was always making false allegations against them. Williams attempted to deflect the questions by focusing on their time spent in prison and implying that they had therefore lost any right to a reputation. In 2010, Williams contradicted himself by telling an audience that the Republican movement was linked with organised crime, so much so, he claimed, somewhat uncertainly, that 1969 was "probably the last truly peaceful year in this nation of ours. That", he said, "changed with the escalation of problems in Northern Ireland."
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