Cathal Mac Coille (born 1952) is a retired Irish broadcaster, researcher and journalist. He was a co-presenter of '' Morning Ireland'' on RTÉ Radio 1 for most of the period from 1986 until his retirement in 2017. He currently writes opinion pieces for Tuairisc.ie, a role he took up in 2014. He was used by

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

in numerous political broadcasts and interviewed several prominent politicians. Mac Coille also presented other shows on radio and television, including '' This Week'' and '' One to One''. His journalism work has included stints with ''Comhar'' and the ''

Sunday Tribune The ''Sunday Tribune'' was an Irish Sunday broadsheet newspaper published by Tribune Newspapers plc. It was edited in its final years by Nóirín Hegarty, who changed both the tone and the physical format of the newspaper from broadsheet to ta ...

'' and he also spent time as a reporter with TG4.

Career

Mac Coille started his career as editor of the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

magazine, ''Comhar''. He then went on to get a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

in History from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

. He first joined

as a radio researcher in 1974, initially working at the Nuacht desk for five years. He was a member of the RTÉ Northern Staff from 1978 to 1984 and from 1984 to 1986 presented '' This Week'' and other news programmes. He worked as political correspondent with Irish language television channel, TG4. He also worked as a journalist with the ''

'' newspaper for five years from 1990. Mac Coille is best known for presenting ''Morning Ireland'' on RTÉ Radio 1, which is Ireland's most listened to radio programme and has been on air since 1984. He joined the Morning Ireland team in 1986, left the show in 1990 but returned again from 2001 until his retirement in 2017. In 1990, Mac Coille won a Jacob's Award for his work as presenter of ''Morning Ireland''. Mac Coille regularly interviewed politicians such as

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams (; born 6 October 1948) is a retired Irish Republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. From 1983 to 19 ...

and Eoin Ryan Jnr, and breakfasted politically with

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

broadcaster

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American TV and radio host presenter, author, and former spokesman. He was a WMBM radio interviewer in the Miami area in the 1950s and 1960s and beginning in ...

Super Tuesday Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominatin ...

in February 2008. Mac Coille has also worked on '' One to One'', a television interview series broadcast on RTÉ One. In radio he worked on the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA) or Belfast Agreement ( or ; or ) is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April (Good Friday) 1998 that ended most of the violence of the Troubles, an ethno-nationalist conflict in Northern Ireland since the la ...

and the

2008 United States presidential election Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator from Delaware, defeated the Republican ticket of John Mc ...

. Mac Coille was part of a crew of RTÉ employees who travelled to the United States to cover the

election event, a move which was later criticised when the true cost emerged. In September 2010 on ''Morning Ireland'' Mac Coille received a controversial nine-minute live interview from

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Brian Cowen Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011. Cowen served as a TD for the constituency of Laois–Offaly from 1984 to 2011 and served in several ...

at a

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil ( ; ; meaning "Soldiers of Destiny" or "Warriors of Fál"), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party (), is a centre to centre-right political party in Ireland. Founded as a republican party in 1926 by Éamon de ...

think-in in

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

; the interview received international attention and led to increased pressure on Cowen to resign in the days that followed.

Personal life

Mac Coille grew up in

Clondalkin Clondalkin () is a suburban village in County Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, approximately west of Dublin city centre. It is within the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin County Council, South Dublin. Clondalkin is also the na ...

and attended school at Coláiste Mhuire in the city centre, before moving to Phibsborough in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

. He is married with four children.

References

External links

''Morning Ireland'' Profile

''The Sunday Times'' Radio review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Coille, Cathal 1952 births 21st-century Irish people Living people Alumni of University College Dublin People educated at Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin Jacob's Award winners People from Clondalkin RTÉ newsreaders and journalists RTÉ Radio 1 presenters Broadcasters from County Dublin Sunday Tribune people