One of the many joys of having lived in Ireland for the past 20-odd years has been witnessing the ups and downs of Eamon Dunphy's media career.
Similarly, it has been a genuine pleasure to be interviewed by him on many occasions.
He is one of those journalists who is himself a running news story. At regular intervals he gets into scrapes that inevitably create headlines.
He doesn't court controversy. He is married to it. He says what he thinks and then, lest anyone didn't catch it the first time, repeats it - louder still.
He is also given to dramatic changes if mind about people, whether they be footballers, politicians or his own media bosses. Friends become enemies and enemies become friends.
He particularly seems to revel in upsetting his employers and the latest to feel his wrath is Denis O'Brien, whose company owns an Irish radio station, Newstalk.
During his final show yesterday - having previously announced that he was quitting - Dunphy accused O'Brien of "hating journalism" and also claimed that Newstalk staff were being "intimidated and blackguarded".
Now that's what I call exercising freedom of speech - laying into your own broadcasting bosses.
There are three separate, though possibly overlapping, reasons for Dunphy's departure. According to the Sunday Business Post, it is due to "management interference".
According to the Sunday Times, he was asked to take a 50% pay cut from his €100,000-a-year (£87,700) salary.
But he has also said he was quitting in solidarity with Sam Smyth, the journalist who was fired a fortnight ago as the presenter of a show on Today FM, another O'Brien-owned station. [O'Brien is currently suing Smyth over comments made during a judicial tribunal].
Dunphy alleges that Newstalk has been a "very inhospitable atmosphere for journalists to work in". He also claimed that its broadcasters were told to "put a positive spin on the news agenda".
I can't be certain about that, but what I do know from personal experience is that he is an excellent broadcaster.
As a regular interviewee down the years, I have enjoyed conversations with him enormously. The key word there is conversations. He doesn't hector; he explores.
I am sure he'll turn up somewhere else soon. His fans and his detractors - though they would never admit it - will miss him if he stays off air.
Sources: Irish Times/Sunday Times/Sunday Business Post
