In the late 1960s, Bird took an active interest in far-left politics, being a member of Young Socialists. In this role, along with Tariq Ali of the International Marxist Group, he attended the funeral of Peter Graham of Saor Éire who was assassinated on 25 October 1971 in an internecine dispute. A photograph of the funeral shows Ali and Bird giving a clenched fist salute at the grave.
In 1996, a man claiming to be from the IRA rang the RTE newsroom asking to speak to special correspondent, Charlie Brid.Speaking about the call, Bird said: "The person I spoke to has proven to be very reliable in the past about information and statements emanating from the Irish republican movement. During his coverage of the NIB story, Bird reported that Beverly Flynn had assisted clients of the bank in evading tax by funnelling undeclared income to Clerical Medical schemes based in the Isle of Man. Flynn denied the claims and sued RTÉ for libel. What followed was "the longest-running libel case in the history of the state".
In the early 2000s covered a number of major international news stories for RTÉ News such as the September 11 attacks in New York and the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami. He also covered domestic stories such as a 2004 horse-doping scandal including Cian O'Connor and the story of the Colombia Three, three Irish Republicans charged with providing training to FARC rebels.
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