Martin O'Brien is an Irish

Irish people

The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...

 journalist and producer with BBC Northern Ireland

BBC Northern Ireland

BBC Northern Ireland is the main public service broadcaster in Northern Ireland.The organisation is one of the three national regions of the BBC, together with BBC Scotland and BBC Wales. Based at Broadcasting House, Belfast, it provides television, radio, online and interactive television content...

.

Personal life

O'Brien was born in Enniskillen

Enniskillen

Enniskillen is a town in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. It is located almost exactly in the centre of the county between the Upper and Lower sections of Lough Erne. It had a population of 13,599 in the 2001 Census...

, County Fermanagh

County Fermanagh

Fermanagh District Council is the only one of the 26 district councils in Northern Ireland that contains all of the county it is named after. The district council also contains a small section of County Tyrone in the Dromore and Kilskeery road areas....

, Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

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He is a graduate in Politics and Scholastic Philosophy from Queen's University, Belfast, and served on the university's Senate from 1982 to 2006. He was the recipient of the Irish Association's Montgomery Medal in 1993 for his Queens University's Master's dissertation on Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Irish policy.

Career

O'Brien began his journalistic career as a reporter with the Belfast Telegraph. Before joining the BBC, he was Editor of The Irish News

The Irish News

The Irish News is a compact-sized daily newspaper based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. It is perceived as being broadly Irish nationalist in outlook...

 from 1982 to 1984. At his appointment, at the age of 27, he was believed to be the youngest daily newspaper editor in the UK or Ireland.

He is Associate Producer and originator of "Our Man in the Vatican" the 2010 BBC (Northern Ireland) TV observational documentary trilogy depicting a year in the life of Francis Campbell

Francis Campbell

Francis Martin-Xavier Campbell was the UK's Ambassador to the Holy See from late 2005 to early 2011. He joined the British Diplomatic Service in 1997, aged 27.-Personal life:...

, then United Kingdom Ambassador to the Holy See - and its sequel "Our Man in the Vatican: The Papal Visit" which was broadcast shortly after the Pope's visit to Britain. It captured Ambassador Campbell's role in the planning and organisation of Benedict XVI's State visit to Britain.

O'Brien is currently a producer in network development in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...

. From 1995 to 2011 he produced Sunday Sequence, BBC Radio Ulster's weekly religious affairs and ethics programme, winning four Andrew Cross Awards in religious affairs broadcasting. Previously he produced Good Morning Ulster

Good Morning Ulster

Good Morning Ulster is a flagship Northern Irish radio news programme broadcast on BBC Radio Ulster.The programme is presented by Wendy Austin, Conor Bradford and Mark Carruthers, airing each weekday between 6:30am & 9am....

and Sunday Newsbreak, winning a Radio Academy Sony Award.