Bryan David Dobson (born 10 February 1960) is an Irish journalist, now retired, a

newscaster A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news broadcasting, news program on televisio ...

and presenter who worked for

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, ...

. He presented the '' RTÉ News at One'' on RTÉ Radio One, '' RTÉ News: Six One,'' '' RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock'', most recently '' Morning Ireland'', and occasionally '' RTÉ News: One O'Clock''.

Early life

Dobson was raised in

Sandymount Sandymount () is a coastal suburb in the Dublin 4 district on the Southside, Dublin, Southside of Dublin in Ireland. Etymology An early name for the area was Scal'd Hill or Scald Hill.

. He attended Newpark Comprehensive School,

Blackrock, Dublin Blackrock () is an affluent suburb of Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland, northwest of Dún Laoghaire. It is named after the local geological rock formation to be found in the area of Blackrock Park. In the late 18th century, the Blackrock Ro ...

. It was one of the first schools to introduce the

Transition Year Transition Year (TY) () is an optional one-year school programme that can be taken in the year after the Junior Cycle in Ireland. However, depending on school population and funding it may not be available, and in other schools it is compulsory. ...

programme. In it, he presented a half-hour radio programme. When he finished school, he attended a media course in the Rathmines College of Commerce,

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological University Dublin, as TU Dublin City Campus. The insti ...

Broadcasting career

Early career

Dobson previously worked for the Dublin pirate station Radio Nova, hosting their nightly ''Dublin Today'' programme. Before joining RTÉ, he worked for

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcasting, public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. BBC Northern Ireland is one of the four BB ...

RTÉ

Dobson joined RTÉ in 1987 as a reporter for ''This Week'' on Radio 1. He was later appointed as business correspondent, before joining

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 ...

as a presenter in 1991. In September 1996 he was named as the co-presenter of the flagship early evening news programme, '' RTÉ News: Six One'' on

RTÉ One RTÉ One is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by RTÉ. It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís Éireann'' on 31 December 1961, it was renamed ''R ...

, alongside

Sharon Ní Bheoláin Sharon Ní Bheoláin (, approximately ; born Boland on 15 February 1971) is an Irish journalist, newsreader and presenter with RTÉ, Ireland's national radio and television broadcaster, where she has presented the '' Nine O'Clock News'' since 2 ...

. He left his position as co-presenter on 25 October 2017 after 21 years to move to early morning radio on '' Morning Ireland''. He also presented various special programmes such as RTÉ's coverage of

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

s. In May 2011 he fronted RTÉ television coverage of Queen Elizabeth II's visit to the Republic of Ireland. On 24 January 2024 Dobson announced his retirement from broadcasting having worked for RTÉ for 37 years. He presented his last show on 3 May 2024.

Controversy

In 2003, Dobson became embroiled in a minor controversy. Dobson was accused of a conflict of interest when it was reported that he had provided some training for senior local authority officials in answering questions in the media, although the controversy was somewhat defused when Dobson expressed regret for what was viewed as a misjudgment.

Personal life

Dobson lives in Dublin with his wife Crea and their two children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Bryan 1960 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Living people Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology Irish Anglicans Irish radio presenters Irish reporters and correspondents RTÉ newsreaders and journalists People from Sandymount People educated at Newpark Comprehensive School Broadcasters from County Dublin