He was appointed Northern news editor of "The Irish Press" group in 1970 (working for all three newspapers in the group, "The Irish Press", the "Evening Press" and "The Sunday Press") and covered the most intense and violent period of the Northern Ireland conflict. In 1974, he joined Independent Newspapers and, after a brief period in the "Evening Herald", worked for the "Sunday Independent", then edited by Conor O'Brien and later by Michael Hand.