Sam Smyth

Sam Smyth is an investigative reporter, columnist and broadcaster. He works for the Irish Mail on Sunday and formerly worked for Irish Independent, Sunday Independent, Sunday Tribune newspapers.

He is the only Irish journalist to twice win journalist of the year honours: in 1991 for his investigation into business scandals, and in 1997 for his exposure of a political scandal that led to the resignation of government minister Michael Lowry. Smyth revealed that multimillionaire businessman Ben Dunne financed an extension to the home of the Transport, Energy and Communications minister' The minister resigned 36 hours after the story broke. He wrote a book Thanks a Million Big Fella based on this story.

In addition to his journalism awards, Smyth was voted the "Journalists’ Journalist" in a February 1997 poll of more than 250 Irish newspaper reporters, organized by In Dublin magazine.

He was born in Belfast and raised as a Methodist.

in the late 60's Smyth was a club promoter and band manager, sometimes known as Lord Turk. He had adopted this name in his role as manager of Romano’s Ballroom. He got into journalism through writing for the Spotlight music magazine after he moved to Dublin. He worked with the Sunday World in Dublin in the 1970s. He deputised for Vincent Browne on the current affairs show.

In his book "Thanks a Million Big Fella", He wrote about the story he uncovered regarding multimillionaire Ben Dunne, head of Ireland’s richest family, who financed an extension to the home of minister Michael Lowry in the governing Fine Gael party. Thirty-six hours after the story broke, the minister resigned. A subsequent government investigation into the affair discovered that Dunne had also given 1.3 million pounds to former Taoiseach Charles Haughey over the years.

He has stated that he is interested in how figures in authority use and abuse their patronage and power. He believes that a reporter’s trustworthiness and reputation for integrity is his or her greatest asset.

On 13 December 2005, using Dáil privilege,Michael McDowell claimed that Frank Connolly, an investigative journalist and a brother of one of the 'Colombia Three', had travelled to Colombia under a false passport. McDowell subsequently leaked the alleged faked passport application to a friend, the journalist Sam Smyth of the Irish Independent. McDowell was widely accused of abusing his power as Minister for Justice for political purposes, and prejudicing any potential police investigation. Although Connolly denied McDowell's accusations, the controversy led to Irish American private donor Chuck Feeney withdrawing funding from the Centre for Public Inquiry, an investigative organisation which had published two reports embarrassing the government, of which Frank Connolly was the director, after McDowell met with him.

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