Brenda Donohue (born c. 1966) is an Irish radio and television presenter.

Personal life

Donohue is one of five children born to Mary and Michael Donohue in

Newbridge, County Kildare Newbridge, officially known by its Irish language, Irish name Droichead Nua (), is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. While the nearby Great Connell Priory was founded in the 13th century, the town itself formed from the 18th century onwards, an ...

. She is a graduate of

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 ...

, where she studied history and economics. She is married with three children: Ali, Robyn and Harvey.

Career

Donohue came to the notice of an

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, ...

producer during a live broadcast on the

campus in the late 1980s. She was asked to join the newly launched ''

The Gerry Ryan Show ''The Gerry Ryan Show'' (often referred to as ''The Ryan Show'', ''The G. Ryan Show'' or ''GRS'') was RTÉ 2fm's mid-morning radio show. Presented by Gerry Ryan until hours before his sudden death, it was launched in March 1988 and ran from ni ...

'',

RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...

's mid-morning talk show. Donohue served as the show's roving reporter for eighteen years. Following Gerry Ryan's death in 2010, Donohue joined ''

Mooney Mooney is a family name which is probably predominantly derived from the Irish Ó Maonaigh, pronounced Om-weeneey. It can also be spelled Moony, Moonie, Mainey, Meaney and Meeney depending on the dialectic pronunciation that was anglicised. Or ...

'', where she worked as a reporter and sometimes hosted the programme itself. Donohue now works on the Marty Squad with Marty Morrissey and on Countrywide on Radio One. From 2016, she has hosted a series on RTÉ Radio 1 called ''Like Family'', a human interest series which looks at social change in Ireland in recent years. Donohue has previously presented other series on the station, including ''The B Side, The Health Show, Café Live'' and ''Going Home''. Despite her long career with RTÉ Radio, Donohue has critiqued the dominance of male presenters with the state broadcaster. Though she has primarily worked in radio, Donohue has also presented a number of TV shows including ''The Selection Box, Get Flirting'' and ''The House of Love'' and is a regular contributor to ''

The Afternoon Show ''The Afternoon Show'' is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's former live flagship daytime show. It ran from 2004 until May 2010. The programme was dropped by RTÉ as part of its new season of television in 2010, to be replaced by two afternoon progr ...

''. Donohue also featured in the reality TV show ''

Celebrity Bainisteoir ''Celebrity Bainisteoir'' was a prime-time reality programme created by Fiona Looney and first broadcast in 2008 by RTÉ. It involved a number of celebrities competing against each other as a Gaelic football team coach. The title derived from ...

'' as the Bainisteoir for Kilcullen in 2012 and also featured in Celebrity Operation Transformation in September 2016.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Donohue, Brenda 1966 births Living people RTÉ television presenters Alumni of University College Dublin Broadcasters from County Kildare People from Newbridge, County Kildare