His father, Tom, was a features journalist with the Belfast Telegraph.
His mother worked briefly as a secretary with the BBC in Belfast. His
parents were founding members of the Northern Ireland political party
"Alliance Party". She was the first Alliance party minister of Belfast
elected in 1973 but she died of cancer just before she was due to take
the seat.
He is the youngest of three children and was born in Belfast in 1968.
He was raised in east Belfast and celebrated his first birthday on the
day British troops arrived in the North [April 20, 1969].
He met his wife, Miriam O'Callaghan, when they both worked on the
BBC programme "Newsnight". They have three sons. He was the BBC's
producer in the US during the 1996 presidential election. He moved to
Dublin, Ireland in 1997.
He and his wife and business partner, Miriam O'Callaghan, are the
executive producers and directors of Mint Productions.
He studied history and politics at Manchester University before joining
the BBC. He started out with the British national broadcaster working
on children's programmes. He moved to London in 1992 and landed a job
in current affairs.