“Henry was a reporter at the Irish News which I edited in the early 1990s. This was an especially brutal phase of the conflict and reporting on it was stressful, often upsetting and even dangerous. He thrived in those tough conditions – he was courageous and diligent, ferociously hard-working and built an extraordinary network of contacts across all sides. There was more to Henry as well – even at this early stage of his career he was blossoming as a writer. INLA Deadly Divisions which he co-authored with the late Jack Holland during this period is, in my opinion, one of the very best books on political violence in Ireland.
I regard it as a privilege to have worked with Henry and have enjoyed following his career and reading both his reportage and long-form work. He’s right up there amongst the very best journalists working today”.
Nick Garbutt, editor Irish News 1990 -1993.
‘Henry McDonald stands out as a journalist with exceptional abilities. His grasp of the history of The Troubles has been evident in his reporting and in his published works. Throughout his career, in the face of pressures from extreme political forces he has displayed the kind of courage which has garnered the respect of his contemporaries. He stands out as one of a small number of journalist-authors whose work on the N. Ireland conflict will remain an important source for future students and historians. ‘
Martin Dillon, New York, author of ‘The Shankill Butchers’, ‘The Dirty War’ and ‘God and The Gun.
“On behalf of (Irish-SOCA) Irish Survivors of Child Abuse I want to go on record to thank Henry McDonald of The Guardian & Observer for 20 years of fearless and indefatigable journalism on behalf of the victims of Ireland’s Industrial Schools and other institutions who suffered years of frightfulness and despair at the hands of cruel men and women in the Church-State conspiracy against the underclass and dispossessed between 1922 – 1998
The sign of a healthy democracy is a fearless and active free press but for too long Ireland’s press refused to take on the Church-State stranglehold on all aspects of public life including the media. This deplorable situation changed only after The Guardian/Observer started to publicly ventilate the hidden truths of Ireland’s past and the appalling duplicity of Church & State from 1922 to the present day. Eventually other media in Ireland (and abroad) took up the issues which ultimately led to a formal State apology to the Survivors in May 1999 in Dail Eireann (Parliament) and the establishment of a statutory commission of inquiry (Laffoy-Ryan Commission) as well as the Residential Institutions Redress Board (2002) which paid financial redress of more than €1.5 billion to 15,000 survivors living in the UK & Ireland.
I have absolutely no doubt whatever that the fearless revelations from journalists like Henry McDonald of the Guardian were a catalyst for positive change and our debt to him in particular is incalculable”.
Patrick Walsh, UK spokesperson for Irish Survivors of Child Abuse.