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

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 program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

and presenter with

RTÉ (RTÉ) (; Irish language, Irish for "Radio & Television of Ireland") is the Public broadcaster, national broadcaster of Republic of Ireland, Ireland headquartered in Dublin. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on RTÉ Television, telev ...

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

. He currently presents the RTÉ: News at One. He previously presented '' RTÉ News: Six One,'' '' RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock'', most recently

Morning Ireland ''Morning Ireland'' is the breakfast news programme broadcast by RTÉ Radio 1 in Ireland and is noted as that country's most listened to radio programme. It is broadcast each weekday morning between 07.00 and 09.00 and alternate items are normall ...

, and occasionally '' RTÉ News: One O'Clock''.

Early life

Dobson was raised in Sandymount. He attended

Newpark Comprehensive School Newpark Comprehensive School () is a mixed, Church of Ireland, state comprehensive secondary school in Blackrock, County Dublin, Ireland. It was established in 1972. History Newpark has a Christian tradition, reflecting its origins with ...

Blackrock, Dublin Blackrock () is a suburb of Dublin, Ireland, northwest of Dún Laoghaire. Location and access Blackrock covers a large but not precisely defined area, rising from sea level on the coast to at White's Cross on the N11 national primary road. ...

. It was one of the first schools to introduce the

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

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, ga, Institiúid Teicneolaíochta Bhaile Átha Cliath) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological Un ...

Broadcasting career

Early career

Dobson previously worked for the Dublin pirate station Radio Nova, hosting their nightly ''Dublin Today'' programme. Before joining RTÉ in 1987, he worked for

BBC Northern Ireland BBC Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann; Ulster-Scots: ''BBC Norlin Airlan'') is a division of the BBC and the main public broadcaster in Northern Ireland. It is widely available across both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ire ...

RTÉ

Dobson joined

RTÉ News and Current Affairs (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 ...

as a reporter in 1992. Before being the main '' RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock'' presenter, he was the RTÉ Business Correspondent. 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 ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís � ...

, one of the most watched news programmes in Ireland. Since then he has presented that news programme, currently with Sharon Ní Bheoláin. He left his position as co-presenter on 25 October 2017 after 21 years to move to early morning radio on ''

''. He also presents various special programmes such as RTÉ's coverage of

general election A general election is a political voting election where generally all or most members of a given political body are chosen. These are usually held for a nation, state, or territory's primary legislative body, and are different from by-elections ( ...

s. In May 2011, he fronted RTÉ television coverage of

Queen Elizabeth II's visit to the Republic of Ireland Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and her husband Prince Philip made a state visit to the Republic of Ireland from 17 to 20 May 2011, at the invitation of the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese. It ...

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. He interviewed

Bertie Ahern Bartholomew Patrick "Bertie" Ahern (born 12 September 1951) is an Irish former Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1997 to 2008, Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1994 to 2008, Leader of the Opposition from 1994 to 1997, Tánaiste a ...

in 2006, after which Dobson said "I've never done an interview like it before and I doubt if I ever will again". On 21 January 2013 an incident occurred when Dobson was interviewing the American White House press reporter Paul Brandus. At one point of the report, a man, though shadowed, appeared in front of the screen telling Brandus his time was over. The television facility was being shared and it was the next reporter's turn. Dobson commented: "Well in all my years on the jobs that's never happened, well there you go!"

Personal life

Dobson lives in Dublin with his wife 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