Cathal Mac Coille (born 1952) is a retired

Irish Irish may refer to: Common meanings * Someone or something of, from, or related to: ** Ireland, an island situated off the north-western coast of continental Europe ***Éire, Irish language name for the isle ** Northern Ireland, a constituent unit ...

broadcaster, researcher and journalist. He was a co-presenter of ''

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 ...

'' on

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 1 ( ga, RTÉ Raidió 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 th ...

for most of the period from 1986 until his retirement in 2017. He currently writes opinion pieces for Tuairisc.ie, a role he took up in 2014. He was used by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) in numerous political broadcasts and interviewed several prominent politicians. Mac Coille also presented other shows on radio and television, including '' This Week'' and '' One to One''. His journalism work has included stints with ''Comhar'' and the '' Sunday Tribune'' and he also spent time as a reporter with

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

Career

Mac Coille started his career as editor of the

Irish language Irish ( Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was ...

magazine, ''Comhar''. He then went on to get a

Bachelor of Arts Bachelor of arts (BA or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree course is generally completed in three or four year ...

in History 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 member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 33,284 student ...

. He first joined RTÉ as a radio researcher in 1974, initially working at the Nuacht desk for five years. He was a member of the RTÉ Northern Staff from 1978 to 1984 and from 1984 to 1986 presented '' This Week'' and other news programmes. He worked as political correspondent with Irish language television channel,

. He also worked as a journalist with the '' Sunday Tribune'' newspaper for five years from 1990. Mac Coille is best known for presenting ''Morning Ireland'' on RTÉ Radio 1, which is Ireland's most listened to radio programme and has been on air since 1984. He joined the Morning Ireland team in 1986, left the show in 1990 but returned again from 2001 until his retirement in 2017. In 1990, Mac Coille won a

Jacob's Award The Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients ...

for his work as presenter of ''Morning Ireland''. Mac Coille regularly interviewed politicians such as

Gerry Adams Gerard Adams ( ga, Gearóid Mac Ádhaimh; born 6 October 1948) is an Irish republican politician who was the president of Sinn Féin between 13 November 1983 and 10 February 2018, and served as a Teachta Dála (TD) for Louth from 2011 to 2020. ...

and

Eoin Ryan Jnr Eoin Ryan (born 24 February 1953) is a former Irish Fianna Fáil politician. He was a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Dublin from 2004 to 2009, and also was a Teachta Dála (TD) for Dublin South-East from 1992 to 2007. Ryan was bo ...

, and breakfasted politically with

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broadcaster

Larry King Larry King (born Lawrence Harvey Zeiger; November 19, 1933 – January 23, 2021) was an American television and radio host, whose awards included 2 Peabodys, an Emmy and 10 Cable ACE Awards. Over his career, he hosted over 50,000 interviews. ...

Super Tuesday Super Tuesday is the United States presidential primary election day in February or March when the greatest number of U.S. states hold primary elections and caucuses. Approximately one-third of all delegates to the presidential nominating co ...

in February 2008. Mac Coille has also worked on '' One to One'', a television interview series broadcast 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 ...

. In radio he worked on the

Good Friday Agreement The Good Friday Agreement (GFA), or Belfast Agreement ( ga, Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta or ; Ulster-Scots: or ), is a pair of agreements signed on 10 April 1998 that ended most of the violence of The Troubles, a political conflict in No ...

and the

2008 United States presidential election The 2008 United States presidential election was the 56th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 4, 2008. The Democratic ticket of Barack Obama, the junior senator from Illinois, and Joe Biden, the senior senator f ...

. Mac Coille was part of a crew of RTÉ employees who travelled to the United States to cover the

election event, a move which was later criticised when the true cost emerged. In September 2010 on ''Morning Ireland'' Mac Coille received a controversial nine-minute live interview from

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

Brian Cowen Brian Bernard Cowen (born 10 January 1960) is an Irish former politician who served as Taoiseach and Leader of Fianna Fáil from 2008 to 2011. Cowen was elected to Dáil Éireann in 1984, for the constituency of Laois–Offaly and served in a ...

at a

Fianna Fáil Fianna Fáil (, ; meaning 'Soldiers of Destiny' or 'Warriors of Fál'), officially Fianna Fáil – The Republican Party ( ga, audio=ga-Fianna Fáil.ogg, Fianna Fáil – An Páirtí Poblachtánach), is a conservative and Christia ...

think-in in

Galway Galway ( ; ga, Gaillimh, ) is a city in the West of Ireland, in the province of Connacht, which is the county town of County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay, and is the sixth most populous city on ...

; the interview received international attention and led to increased pressure on Cowen to resign in the days that followed.

Personal life

Mac Coille grew up in

Clondalkin Clondalkin ( ; ) is a suburban town situated 10 km south-west of Dublin city centre, Ireland, under the administrative jurisdiction of South Dublin. It features an 8th-century round tower that acts as a focal point for the area. Clondal ...

and attended school at Coláiste Mhuire in the city centre, before moving to Phibsborough in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 c ...

. He is married with four children.

References

External links

''Morning Ireland'' Profile

''The Sunday Times'' Radio review
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mac Coille, Cathal 1952 births 21st-century Irish people Living people Alumni of University College Dublin People educated at Coláiste Mhuire, Dublin Jacob's Award winners People from Clondalkin RTÉ newsreaders and journalists RTÉ Radio 1 presenters