Ray Kennedy is an Irish news presenter and award winning journalist working 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, ...

, Ireland's national television and radio station, where he has presented the '' Nine O'Clock News'' since September 2023, having previously presented the weekend editions of the '' Six One News'' and '' One O'Clock News''. He is former Ireland correspondent for

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel, live stream news network and news organisation. Sky News is distributed via an English-language radio news service, and through online channels. It is owned by Sky Group, a division of ...

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

and was also one of the

Sky News Ireland Sky News Ireland was a programming block on Sky News broadcast in Ireland. It was a separate feed from the UK and international versions of Sky News. Sky News Ireland was broadcast from its studios in Dublin. The service was also available in th ...

's two anchors. for its weeknightly programmes.

Career

Before joining Sky News, Kennedy worked as a reporter and news anchor for Irish channels RTÉ and

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 ...

. His career began in 1989, working as a reporter with the ''

Irish Independent The ''Irish Independent'' is an Irish daily newspaper A newspaper is a Periodical literature, periodical publication containing written News, information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray backgrou ...

'' and ''

Irish Press ''The Irish Press'' ( Irish: ''Scéala Éireann'') was an Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995. History Foundation The paper's first issue was published on the eve of the 1931 ...

'' newspaper groups before radio and television presenting. He has held the posts of Political Correspondent with Independent Network News (INN). Weekend Anchor TV3, and Ireland Correspondent Sky News International. In 2016, he won the Justice Media Award television journalist category for the coverage of the Gorse Hill repossession case. In 2017, he was shortlisted for the Amnesty International Media Awards for reporting on poverty in Brazil ahead of the Rio Olympics. In 2006, he was nominated one of Ireland's favourite news presenters at the

TV Now Awards The ''TV Now'' Awards (known presently for sponsorship reasons as the Walkers Sensations ''TV Now'' Awards) was an annual awards ceremony which took place in Ireland between 2006 and 2010. The awards celebrated television moments from the previo ...

Work

Overseas assignments have included the funeral of

Princess Diana Diana, Princess of Wales (born Diana Frances Spencer; 1 July 1961 – 31 August 1997), was a member of the British royal family. She was the first wife of Charles III (then Prince of Wales) and mother of Princes William ...

in 1997 and the war and refugee crisis in

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

1999. He covered the 2004/05

Asian tsunami On 26 December 2004, at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7), a major earthquake with a magnitude of 9.2–9.3 struck with an epicentre off the west coast of Aceh in northern Sumatra, Indonesia. The undersea megathrust earthquake, known in the scienti ...

for Sky News live from Thailand, and was also dispatched to Rome by Sky for the death of

Pope John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

and election of

Pope Benedict XVI Pope BenedictXVI (born Joseph Alois Ratzinger; 16 April 1927 – 31 December 2022) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 19 April 2005 until his resignation on 28 February 2013. Benedict's election as p ...

. In 2004, Ray Kennedy covered the

US presidential election The election of the president and vice president of the United States is an indirect election in which citizens of the United States who are registered to vote in one of the fifty U.S. states or in Washington, D.C., cast ballots not directl ...

live from

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He has spent time working from Sky News centre in London. He also broadcast from the

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

studios in Washington DC with Brit Hume and John Gibson. He provided three hours of live coverage on Sky News for the 1916 Easter Rising - 90th anniversary military parade in Dublin. He broadcast live commentary on Sky News international for the state funeral of former

Taoiseach The Taoiseach (, ) is the head of government or prime minister of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The office is appointed by the President of Ireland upon nomination by Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legisl ...

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who led four governments as Taoiseach: December 1979 to June 1981, March to December 1982, March 1987 to June 1989, and June 1989 to February 1992 ...

. He left Sky News in 2008 returning to

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 ...

. On 19 September 2022, Kennedy was the presenter of RTÉ's coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II from London, along with Kate Egan. In September 2023, he became the anchor of the '' Nine O'Clock News'', sharing presenting duties with

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 ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kennedy, Ray 1970 births Living people Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology RTÉ newsreaders and journalists People from Clontarf, Dublin Broadcasters from County Dublin