"She was the voice of reason"

Broadcaster Joe Duffy paid tribute to Marian Finucane this evening, after the announcement of her sudden death. Speaking on RTÉ's Drivetime programme this evening, Joe Duffy hailed Ms Finucane as "the voice of reason" saying the everyone from a priest to a prime minister to an ordinary citizen "knew that they would get a fair hearing from Marian". Explaining how Marian's show Women Today had "morphed into Liveline" in the late 1970s, Mr Duffy spoke of how encouraging Ms Finucane was to him when he took over the radio programme, urging him to find his own voice in the programme. Mr Duffy hailed the Ms Finucane as a "trailblazing broadcaster" with a "fantastic sense of humour" and said that she was known throughout the country for her fair, trusted and recognisable voice. He also paid tribute to her work on women's rights and her charity work in Africa, which he noted was always done under the radar. Mr Duffy said that he had last spoken to Ms Finucane before she went to India for a wedding just before Christmas, and that as someone who loved travel she was looking forward to the trip. Above all else, Mr Duffy said that he would remember his late colleague as a "genuine and charming" woman. Marian is survived by her husband John and son Jack.