The journalist Eamonn Holmes died yesterday at St James's Hospital, Dublin. Mr Holmes (45) was on duty at The Irish Times, as night reporter, when he was taken ill shortly after midnight.
He was removed by ambulance to St James's Hospital and admitted to the Intensive Care Unit, where he underwent emergency surgery. He died at about 1 p.m. yesterday.
Mr Holmes is survived by his wife, Anne, and their two daughters, Eleanor (11) and Catherine (4). A native of Murroe, Co Limerick, he was a graduate of University College, Dublin. After graduating in 1977 he worked in Germany for a year before returning to UCD to complete his MA on the Irish Famine.
He subsequently joined the Kilkenny Standard as a reporter before going on to work with the Meath Chronicle. He married in 1986.
After freelancing for a number of years on national newspapers he joined the staff of the Irish Press in 1995, just months before it closed.
He continued to freelance from that time onwards and was a familiar face and popular colleague in a number of Dublin newsrooms, including The Irish Times, where he worked a regular shift as night reporter.
Eamonn Holmes will be best remembered for his skills as a court reporter. He provided court copy for a number of newspapers, including the Irish Press, The Irish Times, Irish Independent and Meath Chronicle. He also worked for the Farming Independent.