Paul Howard

Paul Howard is a journalist with the Irish Times on Saturday, an Irish newspaper. Howard is best known as the author of the paper's Ross O'Carroll-Kelly columns. In addition, he has written a series of books celebrating the character of Ross, a wealthy, misogynistic, rugby union-playing resident of Foxrock in South Dublin. The inspiration for the columns first came from a nonfiction article Howard was researching on Leinster schools rugby. The information he had gathered on the social activities engaged in by the young rugby players was unprintable for legal reasons; instead, Howard decided to use the material to inspire a set of characters (including Ross) attending the fictional school of "Castlerock".

Howard has appeared on the popular RTÉ Two shows "The Panel", "ID2" and more recently, "The Cafe". He also featured on "The Afternoon Show" on "Leaving Cert Memory Lane" on "Countdown to 606" on 2fm on Thursday June 7 2007.

Howard used to be the chief sportswriter for the Sunday Tribune, and is a former Irish Sports Journalist of the Year. He has written several nonfiction books, including "The Joy", an account of life in Mountjoy Prison, "The Gaffers: Mick McCarthy, Roy Keane and the Team they Built", an account of the McCarthy - Keane clash during the 2002 World Cup. He also co-authored Steve Collins' "autobiography", "Celtic Warrior".