Ciara Kelly is an Irish radio presenter, columnist and former GP. She presents the morning show on

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

. She also has a weekly column with the '' Sunday Independent''.

Career

Kelly qualified from

University College Dublin University College Dublin (commonly referred to as UCD) ( ga, Coláiste na hOllscoile, Baile Átha Cliath) is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland ...

as a medical doctor in 1997, having previously completed a Bachelor of Commerce. She went into practice and also did media work, including breakfast television on TV3 and presenting ''Doctors on Call'' on

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the national broadcaster of Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, while ...

. She was the medical expert on ''

Operation Transformation Operational transformation (OT) is a technology for supporting a range of collaboration functionalities in advanced collaborative software systems. OT was originally invented for consistency maintenance and concurrency control in collaborative ed ...

'', a television series on RTÉ, which won an IFTA in 2014, and also on

George Hook George Hook (born 19 May 1941) is an Irish broadcaster, journalist and rugby union pundit. He formerly hosted ''The Right Hook'' and ''High Noon'' on the Irish radio station Newstalk. He had a career as a rugby union coach and businessman, ...

's lunchtime radio show on Newstalk. In October 2017, she withdrew from active medical practice to concentrate on her media career. The same month she claimed that an "Irish

Harvey Weinstein Harvey Weinstein (; born March 19, 1952) is an American former film producer and convicted sex offender. He and his brother, Bob Weinstein, co-founded the entertainment company Miramax, which produced several successful independent films inclu ...

" was operating within the Irish media. Kelly describes herself as a ''soi-disant'' "intellectual". She is the instigator of the public health initiative "100 Days of Walking". In November 2019, Vicky Phelan blasted Kelly over her writing about people affected by the

CervicalCheck cancer scandal The CervicalCheck cancer scandal first emerged in 2018 and involved several women in the Republic of Ireland suing the Health Service Executive (HSE) after they received incorrect smear test results for cervical cancer. Background In 2011, Vi ...

who sued. She lives in

Greystones, County Wicklow Greystones () is a coastal town and seaside resort in County Wicklow, Ireland. It lies on Ireland's east coast, south of Bray and south of Dublin city centre and has a population of 18,140 (2016). The town is bordered by the Irish Sea ...

. She is an

atheist Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...

. On 18 March 2020, Kelly announced that she had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quickl ...

the previous day. She discussed her diagnosis on ''

Liveline ''Liveline'' is an Irish radio interview and phone-in chat show broadcast on RTÉ Radio 1 each weekday afternoon between 13.45 and 15.00. The programme, which is currently presented by Joe Duffy and known for its slogan "Talk to Joe", seeks t ...

'', and Miriam O'Callaghan interviewed her for ''

Prime Time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

'' through

Skype Skype () is a proprietary telecommunications application operated by Skype Technologies, a division of Microsoft, best known for VoIP-based videotelephony, videoconferencing and voice calls. It also has instant messaging, file transfer, ...

from her home. Though no longer practising in medicine, Kelly said she had taken precautions and had not been abroad. She had continued to present the Monday and Tuesday editions of her programme, ''Lunchtime Live'', from the hot press (a type of Irish

cupboard A cupboard is a piece of furniture for enclosing dishware or grocery items that are stored in a home. The term gradually evolved from its original meaning: an open-shelved side table for displaying dishware, more specifically plates, cups and sa ...

closet A closet (especially in North American usage) is an enclosed space, with a door, used for storage, particularly that of clothes. ''Fitted closets'' are built into the walls of the house so that they take up no apparent space in the room. Closet ...

) in her home, and Mick Heaney of ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...

'' described her Wednesday programme as "a compelling show, remarkably so considering it was hosted by an ill woman sitting in an airing cupboard". Her performance while ill contributed to her winning an IMRO award. From August 2020 she moved to co-presenting Newstalk's morning show.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kelly, Ciara 1971 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin Irish atheists Irish broadcasters Irish columnists Irish women columnists Irish radio presenters Irish women radio presenters Newstalk presenters Place of birth missing (living people) Sunday Independent (Ireland) people 20th-century Irish medical doctors 21st-century Irish medical doctors