Richard Downes was one of the presenters of Morning Ireland on RTE Radio 1 from 2002 until 2010 and was Washington Correspondent for RTE News from 2010 until 2013.
14 Facts About Richard Downes
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Richard Downes's father was a civil-servant whose library Downes became fascinated with from an early age.
3.
Richard Downes admired the souvenirs brought back from Africa by his cousins who were missionaries.
4.
Richard Downes is married to Mairead and they have two children.
5.
Richard Downes was to later write of his experiences in his 2006 book In Search of Iraq: Baghdad to Babylon.
6.
Richard Downes was later redeployed to Iraq, this time with RTE.
7.
Richard Downes covered many events in the country since the start of the Iraq War.
8.
Richard Downes left before Saddam Hussein's statue was toppled, claiming he was "at an advanced stage of psychological disintegration" and that the pressure on his family was too much to bear.
9.
Richard Downes published his book in 2006, In Search of Iraq: Baghdad to Babylon, which has an account of his time in Iraq.
10.
Richard Downes was only allowed to stay in the country for a period of three days but he returned disguised as a tourist and filmed a secret report for the BBC's Newsnight.
11.
Richard Downes presented Ireland's most listened to radio programme, Morning Ireland from 2002 to 2010.
12.
When Bird announced his premature departure from the role, Richard Downes was rumoured by the Evening Herald to replace him.
13.
Richard Downes was in the United States for three years.
14.
Richard Downes returned to Dublin and was replaced by Catriona Perry in late 2013.