Fiona Mitchell (born 1972) is an Irish journalist and news correspondent with

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, ...

, Ireland's national radio and television station, where she previously was the

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

correspondent for

RTÉ News RTÉ News and Current Affairs (), also known simply as RTÉ News (''Nuacht RTÉ''), is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster (RTÉ). Its services include local, national, European and international news, investigative ...

from January 2015 to June 2019.

Career

Mitchell began her journalism career with local radio station Midlands 103 and made the transition from local radio to television in 1998 with

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso * Canal 3 Niger, a commercial television channel in Niger * Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala * Can ...

. Mitchell joined Raidió Teilifís Éireann in 2000, where she worked as a reporter on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 () is an Irish national radio station owned and operated by RTÉ and is the direct descendant of Dublin radio station 2RN, which began broadcasting on a regular basis on 1 January 1926. The total budget for the station in 2010 w ...

's ''

Morning Ireland ''Morning Ireland'' is an Irish breakfast news programme broadcast by RTÉ Radio 1 and is noted as the country's most listened to radio programme. It is broadcast each weekday morning between 7 am and 9 am and alternate items are normal ...

'' and the RTÉ foreign news desk before being appointed news editor in 2006. In November 2014, Mitchell was appointed the RTÉ News London correspondent after previously worked as deputy foreign editor. Her appointment came a month after RTÉ announced in October 2014 that they would be reinstating the position, having previously axed it in 2012. During her time as deputy foreign editor, Mitchell provided extensive coverage of the

resignation of Pope Benedict XVI The resignation of Pope Benedict XVI took effect on 28 February 2013 at 20:00 Roman-Vatican Time, following Benedict XVI's announcement of the same on 11 February. It made him the first pope to relinquish the office since Gregory XII was force ...

, the State visit by President Michael D. Higgins to the United Kingdom and the

2014 Scottish independence referendum A independence referendum, referendum on Scottish independence from the United Kingdom was held in Scotland on 18 September 2014. The referendum question was "Should Scotland be an independent country?", which voters answered with "Yes" or ...

. As London correspondent, she provided extensive coverage of several major terrorist attacks, the

Grenfell Tower fire On 14 June 2017, a List of fires in high-rise buildings, high-rise fire broke out in the 24-storey Grenfell Tower block of Public housing in the United Kingdom, flats in North Kensington, West London, England, at 00:54 British Summer Time, BST ...

, the

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

and 2017 general elections, the birth of

Princess Charlotte Princess Charlotte may refer to: People * Charlotte of the United Kingdom (disambiguation), various princesses ** Princess Charlotte of Wales (born 2015), granddaughter of King Charles III and only daughter of William, Prince of Wales * Charlott ...

, the

Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle The wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle was held on Saturday 19 May 2018 in St George's Chapel at Windsor Castle in the United Kingdom. The groom is a member of the British royal family; the bride is American and previously worked as an a ...

and the

Brexit referendum The 2016 United Kingdom European Union membership referendum, commonly referred to as the EU referendum or the Brexit referendum, was a referendum that took place on 23 June 2016 in the United Kingdom (UK) and Gibraltar under the provisions o ...

. In 2019, Mitchell was succeeded by Sean Whelan as London Correspondent, and since then, she has been a news correspondent for RTÉ. It was revealed in July 2023 amid the

RTÉ secret payment scandal The RTÉ secret payment scandal relates to events from late June 2023 onwards when Ireland's main Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster RTÉ first disclosed previously unknown arrangements concerning a leading presenter's pay, and in s ...

that when Mitchell was London correspondent, she had to use cafés in London as a workplace and was forced to do live on-air interviews from café toilets due to RTÉ giving up their London office space, whilst RTÉ was simultaneously paying for a membership at an exclusive club in the city. Mitchell provided analysis from London across television and radio platforms for RTÉ's comprehensive coverage of the

2024 UK general election The 2024 United Kingdom general election was held on Thursday, 4 July 2024 to elect all 650 members of the House of Commons. The opposition Labour Party, led by Keir Starmer, won a landslide victory over the governing Conservative Party unde ...

, alongside London correspondent Tommy Meskill.

Personal life

Mitchell grew up in

Killeigh Killeigh (, meaning "church of the field") is a village in County Offaly, Ireland. It is located around south of the county town of Tullamore, on the N80 national secondary road; the Slieve Bloom Mountains lie to the south. The village of Kill ...

Tullamore Tullamore (; ) is the county town of County Offaly in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is on the Grand Canal (Ireland), Grand Canal, in the middle of the county, and is the fourth most populous town in the Midland Region, Ireland, Midlands Reg ...

County Offaly County Offaly (; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is named after the Ancient Ireland, ancient Kingdom of Uí ...

and has one sister Frances, and one brother Barry, who lives in the

US state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

. She graduated from

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

with a BA in sociology, politics and history in 1993 and continued on to complete a MA in history in

Maynooth University Maynooth University (MU) (), is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland in Maynooth, County Kildare, Ireland. Maynooth University was formerly known as National University of Ireland, Maynooth (NUIM; ). It was Ireland ...

. On 16 April 2019, Mitchell received the NUI Galway Alumni Award for Arts, Literature and Celtic Studies. She is married to

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

journalist Alan Johnston. At the age of 31, Mitchell was diagnosed with

breast cancer Breast cancer is a cancer that develops from breast tissue. Signs of breast cancer may include a Breast lump, lump in the breast, a change in breast shape, dimpling of the skin, Milk-rejection sign, milk rejection, fluid coming from the nipp ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mitchell, Fiona Living people RTÉ newsreaders and journalists Irish women radio presenters Irish women journalists Writers from County Offaly Alumni of the University of Galway Alumni of Maynooth University 1972 births People from Tullamore, County Offaly Broadcasters from County Offaly Virgin Media News newsreaders and journalists