Niall Sargent on Muck Rack

Niall Sargent

Verified
(He/Him)
Dublin
As seen in: The Currency, MSN Ireland, The Irish Times, TheJournal.ie, ZNetwork, The Southern Star, Green News Ireland, Noteworthy
Covers:  Climate, Environment, Biodiversity, Energy, Business, Finance, Social Issues, Data, Planning law, FOI, AIE, Cross-Border, Long-form journalism
Reporter @thecurrency | Lecturer @griffithcollege | MAs Critical Terrorism Studies & Investigative Journalism | Fmr Intelligence Analyst |

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Niall Sargent’s Biography

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I am an award-winning multimedia investigative reporter and lecturer.

I am currently Current Affairs Correspondent with The Currency.

My work focuses primarily on issues related to climate change, energy, biodiversity loss, and food production, as well as a range of other social, planning, legal, financial and economic issues.

Before joining the team at The Currency, I was an investigative reporter with Journal Media's Noteworthy platform. I have experience working on multiple cross-border p…

Niall Sargent’s Journalist Portfolio

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Social Justice Reporting - Assessing Autism

Social Justice Reporting - Assessing Autism

As part of our ASSESSING AUTISM investigation, more than a dozen families told us about their ongoing struggl…

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Farming Investigations - Factory Farm

Farming Investigations - Factory Farm

As part of a cross-border project to investigate the poultry industry on the island of Ireland, the investiga…

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Climate and Nature Investigations - Peat Sake

Climate and Nature Investigations - Peat Sake

A 10-part investigation into the peat extraction industry in Ireland examined the impacts of unlicensed peat …

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The Green News - Climate News Portfolio

The Green News - Climate News Portfolio

Former editor and lead reporter for The Green News, environmental and climate news from Ireland. I was respon…

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Foreign Correspondence - Palestine

Foreign Correspondence - Palestine

I travelled to the West Bank, and the refugee camp of Balata, to examine how American funding cuts have impac…

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Energy Investigations - Bord na Mona Biomass

Energy Investigations - Bord na Mona Biomass

I produced an original investigation into unsustainable biomass imports by Bord na Mona that led the company …

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Articles

The empire behind the fall: Mapping Cathal O’Connor’s property interests

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By Niall Sargent Verified
| The Currency Verified
Come the turn of the year, it looked like Cathal O’Connor, the chief executive of Beldare Homes and successful property developer in Co Sligo, had it all. A Porsche, a profitable construction and property business with multi-million-euro assets, and a 2025 developer of the year award to boot. All of it achieved by the time he hit 40 last year. This image of a prosperous, picture-perfect life came crumbling down at the Sligo Courthouse last month.
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Contract breaches at half of private Ipas centres inspected in 2026

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By Niall Sargent Verified
| The Currency Verified
Various contractual breaches, including fire safety, overcrowding and health concerns, were documented at 46 privately-run international protection accommodation centres so far this year, an analysis of State inspection reports shows. This accounts for over half of the 87 inspections carried out between January and March 2026 by the International Protection Accommodation Service (Ipas).
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Hitting the bull: How darts became a global sensation in a decade

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By Niall Sargent Verified
| The Currency Verified
As the opening chords of The Cranberries’s Zombie filtered in under the booming voice of John McDonald, the legendary darts master of ceremonies, Willie O’Connor stood, bottom lip bit and eyes smiling out at a boisterous sold-out 3Arena. They were there to see the best of the best darts players compete in the Premier League, one of the top tournaments in the stable of the Professional Darts Corporation (PDC).
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Awards

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Business Journalist Awards

2023 - Business Analyst of the Year

This award is for a portfolio of incisive commentary giving valuable insight into a key business issue or story. The award recognises in-depth reporting in specialist business fields. I won for a series of articles examining the energy crisis in Ireland and rising emissions from data centres.

Justice Media Awards

2023 - Environmental Law/Climate Justice Reporting Award

Winner of the Environmental Law/Climate Justice Reporting award at the Justice Media Awards, the longest-running media awards in Ireland, which recognise and reward excellence in legal journalism. The award was won for my reporting on irregularities in the cross-border poultry litter and the significant impacts on the environment and air quality. This work was part of a cross-border project with reporters Rory Winters, Luke Butterly and Tommy Greene of The Detail and reporter Ella McSweeney at the Guardian. The judges said that “this report fostered a greater understanding of an otherwise under-reported environmental issue. They added: “It was an extremely comprehensive and detailed investigation into cross-border trade and the potential forging of documents, while highlighting likely devastating consequences for the environment.”

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IJ4EU Impact Award

2023 - IJ4EU Impact Award - Honourable Mention

The IJ4EU Impact Award celebrates the best investigative journalism carried out by teams collaborating across borders in European Union member states and EU candidate countries. Our PEAT's SAKE investigation with Latvian news outlet TVNET exposed the unregulated and illegal extraction of peat. Peatlands are crucial ecosystems for rare plants and species, clean and filter water, and mitigate flooding.

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Business Journalist Awards

2022 - Business Analyst of the Year

This award is for a portfolio of incisive commentary giving valuable insight into a key business issue or story. The award recognises in-depth reporting in specialist business fields. I won for a series of articles examining allegations of forged documents and illegal dumping in the poultry industry on the island of Ireland as part of a cross-border project.

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Irish Food Writing Award

2022 - Investigative Writing on Food

I won the Investigative Writing on Food for the second year in a row, this time picking up the award for Noteworthy's TROUBLED WATERS investigation into the environmental impacts of salmon farms in Ireland, as well as ongoing licensing and enforcement issues in the sector. The judge Dan Saladino, presenter of the Food Programme on BBC Radio 4, said that he was impressed with how I "navigated such a complex subject, making it easily accessible and relevant to readers who know about the issues facing wild salmon and those who don’t". "Niall's solid journalistic approach meant that the arguments being put forward are balanced and the facts allowed to speak for themselves," he added.

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Irish Food Writing Award

2022 - Writing on Sustainability in Irish Food

I won the Sustainable Writing award for his work on Noteworthy's CASH COW investigation that examined unsustainable agricultural subsidies, and how there is a better way forward with a new wave of results-based payment schemes to protect a range of habitats and species. The judges were Rene Redzepi and Catherine Mack. Rene is a Danish chef and co-owner of the three-Michelin star restaurant Noma, and Catherine is a writer on sustainable tourism and transport. They said the investigation "translates a lot of information and research into an informative and enlightening read on [farm] subsidies and environmental schemes" and that I had the "strongest article" in terms of writing style.

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Irish Food Writing Award

2021 - Investigative Writing on Food

I won the inaugural Investigative Writing on Food Award, judged by UK food journalist Joanna Blythman, for an investigation into the working conditions for migrant labourers in the horticultural industry in Ireland. Noteworthy.ie reporter Niall Sargent teamed up with BIRN’s Maria Cheresheva in Bulgaria and Marcel Gascón Barberá in Romania to find out if rights granted to seasonal workers under EU law are being respected in Ireland. The result is an exposé of hardship, low pay and mismanaged labour policies.

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Society of Environmental Journalists Award

2021 - Outstanding Investigative Reporting

This investigative series examined how commercial forestry projects are damaging biodiversity in Ireland. The investigation into conifer plantations and forestry licences took third place for outstanding investigative reporting in the Society of Environmental Journalists (SEJ) Awards. Judges called this crowdfunded project, which includes text, data graphics and video, a “fresh topic, written with clarity and backed with impressive original research [and] an outstanding job of explaining the significance of an undercovered area of biodiversity. Readers could recognize this is both a local issue and universal concern.”

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Simon Cumbers Media Fund

2019 - International / Foreign Desk

I was awarded funding to travel to the West Bank, and the refugee camp of Balata, to examine how American funding cuts have impacted life for the 30,000 people who occupy the densely populated camp. My work, including original photography, was published in two articles by The Irish Times

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Mary Raftery Journalism Fund

2016 - Investigative Journalism

First-ever recipient of an Investigative Journalism traineeship funded by the Mary Raftery Journalism Fund, producing news, feature and investigative articles, as well as video and photographic pieces. I produced an investigation into unsustainable biomass imports by one of Ireland’s largest semi-state power stations

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