Claire Byrne (born 11 August 1975) is an Irish radio and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a "television personality") is a person who introduces or hosts television show, television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. It is common for people ...

. Byrne presented ''

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'' from September 2010 to March 2012. In 2013, she became an anchor on

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, ...

's flagship current affairs programme ''

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''. From January 2015 until May 2022, she hosted her own self-titled weekly current affairs television programme, ''Claire Byrne Live''. In August 2020, she took over the hosting of the ''Today with ...'' programme, presenting it as '' Today with Claire Byrne'' 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 ...

Early life

Byrne is the daughter of Tom and Breda Byrne. She grew up on the family farm in

County Laois County Laois ( ; ) is a county in Ireland. It is part of the Eastern and Midland Region and in the province of Leinster. It was known as Queen's County from 1556 to 1922. The modern county takes its name from Loígis, a medieval kingdom. Hist ...

, and was educated locally at the Brigidine Convent in Mountrath. She later studied Politics, Sociology and Social Science at

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 ...

, but did not complete the course. She subsequently attended the Rathmines College of Further Education where she studied journalism.

Career

Byrne is a client of self-styled "agent to the stars" Noel Kelly of NK Management. Byrne began her broadcasting career with East Coast Radio and worked with

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927. The service provides national radio stations cove ...

in the

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, before becoming news editor with

Channel 103 Channel 103 is an Independent Local Radio station broadcasting to the island of Jersey on 103.7 FM and DAB+ digital radio. The station launched on 25 October 1992. Channel 103 is part of Tindle Radio, which also owns Island FM in Guernsey an ...

Jersey Jersey ( ; ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey, is an autonomous and self-governing island territory of the British Islands. Although as a British Crown Dependency it is not a sovereign state, it has its own distinguishing civil and gov ...

. She returned to Ireland shortly afterwards to take up her first television job as a reporter on the fledgling

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. Byrne left after just one year to work as London news anchor with Channel 5 and later with

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British news television channel of ITV (TV network), ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. ITN, Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the netwo ...

, but was lured back to TV3 to present the station's breakfast show ''

Ireland AM ''Ireland AM'' is an Irish morning television show on Virgin Media One. It airs live every weekday from 07:00 to 10:00, and weekends from 9:00 to 12:00. The program features news, current affairs, weather updates, showbiz, fashion, beauty, f ...

''. In 2004, she replaced

Gráinne Seoige Gráinne Seoige (; born 5 November 1973) is an Irish people, Irish journalist, news anchor and documentary and entertainment television presenter. A noted Irish language supporter, Seoige is the only television personality to have worked with a ...

as the main female presenter of the '' TV3 News at 5.30''. Byrne joined the independent Irish radio station

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 ...

in 2006, amid a high-profile legal case with her former employer TV3, which went to court to stop the news anchor broadcasting on Newstalk's breakfast slot. She presented the show with Ger Gilroy, with

Ivan Yates Ivan Yates (born 23 October 1959) is an Irish broadcaster, businessman and former politician. He was elected as a Fine Gael Teachta Dála (TD) for the Wexford constituency at the 1981 general election and at each election until his retirement ...

taking over as co-presenter in 2009. In 2010, Byrne presented her last breakfast show with Newstalk before moving to

where she co-presented, until March 2012, ''

'' with Daithí Ó Sé. In a major shake up of news broadcasts on RTÉ in early 2013, Byrne joined the current affairs programme ''

'' as an anchor alongside Miriam O'Callaghan and

Pat Kenny Patrick Kenny (born 29 January 1948) is an Irish broadcaster, who currently hosts the daily radio show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' on Newstalk and the current affairs show ''Pat Kenny Tonight'' on Virgin Media One. Prior to this, Kenny had a 41-ye ...

. In November 2014, it was announced that she would have her own current affairs show, ''Claire Byrne Live'', which would be broadcast 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 ...

from January 2015. In August 2020 Byrne took over as presenter of the re-titled '' Today with Claire Byrne'', which had been known as '' Today with Sarah McInerney'' for the summer, after the retirement of Sean O'Rourke. In February 2022, an episode of ''Claire Byrne Live'' aired entitled 'The Rise of Sinn Féin' which featured several guests explaining why they would or would not vote for

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( ; ; ) is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active in both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The History of Sinn Féin, original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Griffit ...

. The episode was subject to criticism for alleged bias against the party, the credibility of the responses, and questions raised about RTÉ's responsibilities as a public broadcaster. In May 2022, it was announced that ''Claire Byrne Live'' would end, and its final episode would air on 30 May 2022. In April 2023, Byrne began hosting ''Ireland's Smartest'', a quiz show developed by RTÉ. Byrne was tipped to become host of '' The Late Late Show'' when fellow NK Management client

Ryan Tubridy Ryan Tubridy (born 28 May 1973) is an Irish broadcaster. He currently presents the weekday mid-morning programme ''The Ryan Tubridy Show'' on Virgin Radio UK, as well as a weekend programme on Sundays. His broadcasting career with RTÉ spanned ...

announced his departure; Bryne, however, ruled herself out in May 2023.

Personal life

Byrne was previously married to radio executive Richard Johnson. The marriage ended in 2006. In 2013, she became engaged to business consultant Gerry Scollan. In 2016, Byrne married Scollan at a ceremony in Dublin attended by close friends and family. She has three children, a boy born in 2013, and two girls, born in 2014 and 2017 respectively. In January 2015, she said in an interview that due to financial commitments she could not afford to be a stay at home mum for her children. On 23 March 2020, Byrne announced that she had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. She returned to filming ''Claire Byrne Live'' in the RTÉ 1 studio on 6 April 2020. Her garden shed, from which she presented in 2020, became the focus of attention again on 4 April 2022 when Byrne tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time and presented both her radio and television programme from the shed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Claire 1975 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin East Coast FM presenters Newstalk presenters People from Mountrath RTÉ television presenters Irish women radio presenters Irish women television presenters Irish women journalists Virgin Media News newsreaders and journalists Broadcasters from County Laois