Jim Duffy (author) - Definition and Overview

Jim Duffy (born 12 April 1966) is a freelance journalist and author, commonly writing about political and historical issues related to Ireland. He is a former post-graduate student of University College Dublin.

In 1990 Duffy conducted an interview with Brian Lenihan, in which the then-Tánaiste spoke of the pressures which he and other Fianna Fáil figures had exerted on President Hillery in January 1982 to refuse a dissolution to then-taoiseach Garret FitzGerald. The interview caused an outcry and led to Lenihan's dismissal in October 1990 from Charles Haughey's government, and to the subsequent election in which current President Mary Robinson was elected.

Duffy was one of six people commissioned in 1993 by Australia's Republic Advisory Committee to prepare reports on international republican experiences —to appear as an appendix to the committee's main report. His report, along with those of five others, was submitted as part of that larger report to the then Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating. The Irish appendix suggested an ambiguous Irish experience of republican practice.