Last of the independents

Veteran journalist Ray Managh has been a court reporter for 65 years. The Gazette steals his notebook

Colourful veteran journalist Ray Managh is a highly respected court reporter of 65 years’ standing. He will be 82 on his next birthday. 

His news career began aged 17, on the Tyrone Constitution, the Unionist paper in his hometown of Omagh. A flinty, yet twinkle-eyed Northerner, Ray believes that his entry into journalism broadened his mind. And the issue of the freedom of the press is close to his heart.

In May 2018, a disgruntled plaintiff shoulder-charged Ray at the Four Courts and stole his notebook. “He didn’t damage me physically all that badly, but it was an awful attack on the freedom of the press. It had never happened to me as a reporter all through the Troubles,” says Ray.

In January 2025, that person was convicted of assault and theft and sentenced to nine months, suspended. Ray asked that the €3,000 fine be given to charity.

Shadow play

Managh describes the recent media victory in Britain, reversing a ruling to anonymise judges’ names, as a great success for the press. “It is really heartening to see that ruling overturned,” he says, which he describes as “very foolish”. 

“It would be ridiculous to think that judges could dispense justice in private. Justice must be dispensed in public. Thankfully, here, that’s generally the way. No such claims for [judicial] anonymity, to my knowledge, have ever been made on this island – north or south. And that was at a time when judges were being murdered,” he says, pointing to the bombing and shooting of several members of the judiciary in the North.

Managh also points to the late Circuit Court judge Jim Carroll, who, if he was asked by lawyers to hear a case in camera, would respond “convince me!”

“I never heard any other judge use those words. A great judge; I loved him. He had a ‘Victorian’ attitude: there were no such thing as shops, always ‘emporia’; no security people – they were ‘private armies’.

“I haven’t been asked to leave an in camera hearing for years now, because the judges know, and I know through experience, that I’m not allowed to use any evidence given in court that would identify any party.”

Follow me

Sadly, the line of succession for experienced court reporters such as Ray, is far from secure.

“I don’t know of any reporter who has shorthand at a good level, but the younger reporters are allowed to use phones and laptops,” he says.

“I remember approaching a President of the Circuit [Court], when my hearing was beginning to go a little bit, and asking if he would mind if I recorded his judgments. He said, ‘I wouldn’t mind at all, providing you don’t take them over to Hughes’ [pub] and play them back and say ‘listen to what this idiot across the way said today’!”

“I’ve always had brilliant shorthand, which I learnt in the Technical College in Omagh, after I failed the 11+.”

Ray’s first job on the Tyrone Constitution was secured on the basis of his superb 180-words-a-minute Pitman shorthand, good English, and excellent typing skills, even though the position was already promised elsewhere.

“From day one, I always wanted to be the star reporter. Eventually you would be taken with a senior reporter to county council and urban council meetings. You covered everything and anything, and learnt the trade that way.

“And, of course, you covered courts and, very often, you would get a lift to the outlying District Courts with the judge concerned, who would call to give a lift to the local reporter. They all love publicity! They all love it, judges, barristers, solicitors. It’s the way of getting their name out there.”

Pistol-slapper blues

“We are very lucky with the judiciary we have here,” Ray comments. “They are very fair, and straight, and honest.”

If there is one criticism he has, however, it’s that judges and barristers will sometimes, carelessly, push the microphone away, despite the Courts Service investing hugely in audio-visual equipment. (His slight hearing difficulty wasn't helped by bombs going off during the Troubles.)

“If justice is going to be dispensed in public, the guy at the back must be able to hear, instead of listening to whispering and murmurs from the bench.”

As an ace reporter, Ray Managh broke many stories from the Circuit Civil Court, which he prefers to cover over criminal matters:

“I don’t think I would enjoy listening to rape and murder cases, day after day after day, although certain female reporters seem to handle it okay. In the civil court, it’s different every day. Tomorrow a judge might say something wonderful. You’re always looking for a good news line,” he says.

Barley and grape rag

After the Tyrone Constitution, Ray moved to the Belfast Telegraph at the age of 23. “I lasted there for 11 months, before I got drunk at Stormont and was sacked the next day. Because of my good shorthand, I was on the parliamentary reporting team and Stormont only sat in the afternoons.

“In the morning, they sent me to a press conference of the licensed vintners associations … I phoned in a front-page story and then lashed the drink into myself. I turned up at Stormont, fell in the swing doors and had to be extricated by the RUC.

“The Belfast Telegraph had no further use for me. A fortnight later, I was headhunted by the BBC, where I worked for a year.

“I also got a job with the Irish Press in Dublin and, because of what happened in Stormont, the whole board of the Press group, including all the De Valeras, turned up for the interview, and had great fun. They enjoyed the story of my ‘incompatibility’ with the Bel Tel immensely, and they offered me the job. I turned it down for salary reasons.

“I was never, ever out of work because of what happened.”

Shortly after being sacked, Ray had a world exclusive on his hands when he broke the story of what is thought to be the first murder of a Catholic during the Troubles in Belfast.

In an unremarkable occurrence for 1966, four Catholic barmen from the International Hotel went to the Malvern Arms in the Shankill for a late drink after work. Barman Peter Ward was shot dead and two of his companions were seriously wounded.

In Belfast, Ray also witnessed a breeze block being thrown at the bonnet of the late Queen Elizabeth’s Rolls Royce.

“The car took off like a shot, but before it did, Prince Philip threw himself over the Queen, to protect her.”

Ray rang the BBC newsroom with the story and heard his colleague who answered say: ‘I’ve a feeling Managh’s back on the drink – he’s just told me the Queen has been attacked on Great Victoria Street!’

“Another exclusive, but they had to check it out first – boy, was I happy!” says Ray.

Calling card

Managh also wrote exclusively about the British Army’s looting of Belfast shops for valuables, such as Irish linen and Waterford glass, which left for England with departing squaddies.

“There was nobody charged until I broke the story – then nine soldiers were charged and just one jailed, and he was sent back to England to do his sentence.”

Ray’s own nephew, Howard Donaghy, a 23-year-old police reservist, was shot dead by the IRA in 1978 outside Omagh.

Despite this grievous loss, as well as that of several school pals, he comments: “If there hadn’t been the Troubles and the civil-rights marches, Catholics would still be walked on in the North. Catholics always only got the jobs that Protestants didn’t want to do. It was really awful looking back on it. Something had to blow, and by Jesus, it blew big time.”

Bought and sold

Ray was eventually headhunted by the Irish Independent in Dublin, in 1974, who then sent him to their Belfast office.

“I jumped at it – the money was much better. There was a watertight Indo house agreement, negotiated by John Devine, who later led the NUJ and was honoured for services to journalism.”

Eventually Ray moved down to Dublin: “I always loved Dublin. It was just coming to life when I moved down in 1978. I never once was asked my religion down here.”

In 1993, at the age of 50, Managh started his own court-reporting agency, which enjoyed tremendous success, both training and employing several journalists and filing copy to numerous news organisations.

“I think newspapers made a huge mistake when they did away with sub-editing. A lot of copy was going straight into the newspaper, without edits.

“The columnists were just let run riot, to this day. A lot of it is waffle. News suffered because of that, and court coverage suffered.”

At almost 82, Ray has no intention of slowing down. “Why would I give it up? In 30 years, I’ve never been hit for libel. It gets me out of the bed, into town, and I meet all my friends, barristers and solicitors.

“I’ve always enjoyed my work. For a numbers of years, I worked 52 weeks a year. I’ve looked on my work as a hobby that I’m getting paid for. If I say it myself, I was always good at it. I love it.”

Mary Hallissey is a journalist with the Law Society Gazette.