Ian O'Doherty


Ian O'Doherty is a far-right wing opinion columnist with the Irish Independent. His mid-week "iSpy" column consists of current affairs articles blended shock-jock opinions. On Fridays he publishes the column "The World according to Ian O'Doherty".
O'Doherty formerly worked for the Evening Herald and Hot Press.

Columns

O'Doherty's columns have led to multiple complaints to the Irish Independent. He supported the presence of US troops in the Middle East, equating opposition to this with "cowardice". During the 1980s he attended countess demonstrations outside the U.S embassy in protest at the Central American death squads and the bombing of Tripoli and Benghazi. In a February 2011 column, he called for "so-called junkies" to be sterilised as he believes it would be better if such people did not reproduce. This article received widespread criticism, as O'Doherty also described drug users as "vermin", "feral worthless scumbags" and claimed he would "cheer if every junkie died." The press ombudsman ordered the article to be removed from the Independent.ie website on the grounds that it was deliberately stirring up hatred against a group of people.
In 2010, the editor of Gay Community News criticised a column written by O'Doherty which referred to gay people as "sexual deviants".
In a February 2011 column, he called for "so-called junkies" to be sterilised as he believes it would be better if such people did not reproduce. The article received widespread criticism, as O'Doherty also described drug users as "vermin", "feral worthless scumbags" and claimed he would "cheer if every junkie died." The press ombudsman ordered the article to be removed from the Independent.ie website on the grounds that it was deliberately stirring up hatred against a group of people.
The Press Ombudsman upheld a complaint against O'Doherty in January 2014 for a column in which he described members of the Roma community as "a parasitic, ethnic underclass". The ombudsman said the article contained "a number of emphatic generalisations about beggars of Roma origin that, in his opinion, were clearly capable of or intended to cause grave offence”.
In October 2015, the Press Ombudsman upheld a further complaint for a column in which he described the Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement as being "loud and shrill in their calls for a complete boycott of individual Israelis, regardless of their own political affiliation” and advocating "blanket boycotts of anything involving Jews." The Ombudsman stated that "the article was factually inaccurate in relation to the two statements" and that "BDS campaigns for a widespread boycott of Israeli institutions and organisations. It does not campaign for a boycott of all Israeli citizens. Neither does BDS campaign for a boycott of 'anything involving Jews'. Its campaign, though widespread in its targets, is limited to a boycott of Israeli State institutions as well as economic, cultural, sporting and academic organisations. It does not extend, as the author claimed, to 'anything involving Jews'."

Radio

O'Doherty believes anti-discrimination laws should be removed. Commenting on Newstalk he said "the equality laws should be scrapped". In a 2020 podcast discussed Black Lives Matter, asking "if those who support it are too stupid or too lazy to check out what the BLM organisation openly say they want" as well as criticising "the media mob that chased Kevin Myers out of journalism."
In November 2015, when appearing on Newstalk he said that supporters of Liverpool Football Club "seem to go through so many commemorations of disasters and deaths that they should have just had a black armband just as part of their regulation kit". The presenter interrupted to point out that the club had gone through an "horrendous event", O'Doherty tried to justify his comments that as a Manchester United fan he "is not going to pass on the opportunity to have a go at them". A listener told the centre-left local newspaper Liverpool Echo that "As a Liverpool fan of over forty years I was angered by these comments about Liverpool's grieving of Hillsborough. I don’t think the journalist in question should simply be allowed to mock so openly the families of the 96, the club, its fans and the annual commemeration of the tragedy. The comments are nothing short of appalling."

Personal life

O'Doherty identifies as a libertarian, and has been a speaker during at least one Atheist Ireland meeting. He is married, but has described himself as "utterly useless at being a bloke... spectacularly inept at performing all but the most basic functions". His wife is from County Mayo.