Mick... a brilliant snapper and a wonderful person

Shocked colleagues pay warm tributes to 'wise mentor & friend'. Talented lensman known far & wide as truly 'gifted professional'

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TRIBUTES have been paid to Irish Daily Star and Irish Mirror photographer Michael O'Neill after he died in a collision near Dublin Airport.

Mr O'Neill known to his friends and colleagues as Mick - was pronounced dead at Dublin's Mater hospital on Saturday afternoon.

The motorbike he had been riding was involved in a collision on the Old Airport Road (Collinstown Lane) in north Dublin before 11am on Saturday.

Gardai and paramedics rushed to the scene and Mr O'Neill, 62, was taken to the Mater but was pronounced dead from his injuries.

Mick was a hugely respected and award-winning photojournalist who worked with The Star for 25 years. In recent years he was also a photographer for the Irish Mirror.

Mr O'Neill won the Press Photographers Association News Picture of the Year award in 2021 and Sports Picture of the Year in 2006.

From Swords in Co Dublin, he was a motorsport enthusiast who regularly travelled to the Isle of Man to watch the TT races. He was also press officer for Motorcycling Ireland for two years in the 1990s.