Northern Ireland journalist, broadcaster and former senior European Union official Jim Dougal has died.
He had been ill at Belfast City Hospital and was aged 65.
Mr Dougal, a former civil servant, worked for RTÉ, the BBC and Ulster Television.
His career as a journalist began at BBC Northern Ireland as a general reporter. He also worked at Ulster Television before taking up the post as Northern editor at RTÉ from 1974 to 1991.
He returned to the BBC as the station’s political editor and five years later was appointed as the new co-presenter of BBC Northern Ireland’s relaunched evening news programme.
Mr Dougal left the BBC in 1997 to take up a job for the European Union, initially based in Belfast and then moving to London where he headed the European Commission for the UK until 2004.
He returned to journalism and formed his own broadcast company. He made a number of programmes, which included one on former Church of Ireland archbishop of Ireland Dr Robin Eames and a documentary on the Rev Ian Paisley.
He had just finished making a programme on the life and times of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher.
He was also a regular contributor to The Irish Times.
Mr Dougal was married with four children - three daughters and a son. He lived in south Belfast.
Paying tribute this afternoon, the Catholic primate Cardinal Seán Brady said Jim Doughal "personifed exemplary standards in journalism and in the public service."
"Jim Dougal was a role model in our society. His reputation was that of a hard working journalist who meticulously prepared for each project. Throughout his wide career in the broadcast media and in the public service in Ireland and Britain, Jim's integrity, objectivity and fairness, placed him at the top of his profession, he said.
Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams expressed his condolences to Mr Dougal’s family. “Jim was a political journalist whose integrity and professionalism could never be questioned and despite his illness in recent years he continued to work and to contribute,” he said.
PA