An ex-RTE journalist, author, and producer has passed away this morning, leaving colleagues and fans shocked and saddened by the news of his death.

Since retiring from the state broadcaster, Brendan O’Brien had lectured widely on the situation and the peace process in Northern Ireland and written a number of best-selling books.

One of those books, The Story of Ireland, a children’s book illustrated by Cartoon Saloon, won the Irish Children’s Book of the Year Award in 2008.

O’Brien was a familiar face on our television screens from 1974 to 2004, covering news across Northern Ireland and the UK and making a number of documentaries about the IRA.

In 1983, he was awarded a Jacob’s Award for his work on the RTE Current Affairs programme Today Tonight, and went on to win an Amnesty International Award in 2001.

He later moved into independent radio, presenting programmes on Newstalk between 2005 and 2010.

An unforgettable moment in his reporting career came when he followed Dublin criminal Martin Cahill, known as The General, and stopped and questioned him in the street.

Since retiring from RTE, he has lectured on the Northern Ireland conflict and the peace process and has also penned a number of books on the subject, including The Long War – The IRA and Sinn Féin.

Brendan O’Brien had been living in County Wicklow with his family and is survived by his wife, his five children, and three grandchildren. He was aged 82 at the time of his passing.