Gráinne Seoige (; born 5 November 1973) is an 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 all four Irish terrestrial television stations—

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 a ...

TV3 Channel 3 or TV 3 may refer to: Television *Canal 3 (Burkina Faso), a commercial television channel in Burkina Faso *Canal 3 (Guatemala), a commercial television channel in Guatemala *Channel 3 (Algeria), a public Algerian TV channel owned by EPTV ...

, RTÉ One and

RTÉ2 RTÉ2 is an Irish free-to-air television channel operated by public service broadcaster RTÉ. It was launched in 1978 as the Republic of Ireland's second television channel. History In the 1970s, the Irish government considered three options ...

—and to have read the inaugural news bulletins on three separate channels—TG4, TV3, and Sky News Ireland.

Early life

The eldest of four children, Seoige was born in Spiddal to Philomena and Mairtín Seoige. Gráinne's youngest sibling, her sister

Síle Síle, Gaels, Gaelic-Irish people, Irish female given name. Bearers of the name * Síle Ní Mathgamna, died 1473. * Síle Ní Siurtáin, died 1485. * Síle Níc Ceallaigh, died 1486. * Síle Níc Carthaigh, died 1489. * Síle Ní Raghalligh, died ...

, is also a television presenter. Gráinne was raised in Galway and attended Mercy Convent, Spiddal , before studying at University College Galway (UCG) and graduating with a B.A. in English, Sociology and Political Science. Seoige then went on to complete a Higher Diploma in Applied Communications for Television and Radio through Irish, also at UCG.

Broadcasting career

TG4/TV3

Seoige began her broadcasting career on

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

, 31 October 1996, with the launch of Teilifís na Gaeilge (now

) anchoring the 10pm news bulletin with Gillian Ní Cheallaigh. She stayed at TG4 until 1998, when she was asked to be launch anchor with independent broadcaster

and presented TV3's '' 5:30pm News'' (also known as ''

First Edition The bibliographical definition of an edition includes all copies of a book printed from substantially the same setting of type, including all minor typographical variants. First edition According to the definition of ''edition'' above, a b ...

'') and '' 6:30pm News'' with

Alan Cantwell Alan Cantwell (born 1968) is an Irish journalist, presenter and newsreader, best known as the former anchor of '' TV3 News at 5.30'' and later the 5.30. Career Cantwell began his broadcasting career at the age of seventeen working in pirate ...

. Seoige also hosted ''News Tonight'', as well as producing, writing and presenting news updates throughout the day. She also presented occasionally, Ireland's only breakfast programme, TV3's breakfast show ''Ireland AM''. Seoige was on air when the 9/11 terror attack happened and anchored over 7 hours of live news coverage alone that day.

Sky News

Seoige was head hunted to move to Sky News Ireland and presented its news bulletins from 10 May 2004. She presented bulletins at

Sky News Sky News is a British free-to-air television news channel and 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 Comcast. John Ryley is the hea ...

headquarters anchoring on every programme between 12 midnight and 12 noon.

RTÉ

Seoige joined Ireland's main national broadcaster, RTÉ, in 2006. From 2006 to 2009, she co-presented an afternoon chat show, ''Seoige'' (also known as ''Seoige and O'Shea''), with her sister Síle, while from 2011 to 2016 she co-presented the series ''Crimecall''. Other high-profile roles for her at RTÉ included hosting the People of the Year Awards (2008), co-presenting the ''Up for the Match'' sport specials (2008), and presenting ''

The All Ireland Talent Show ''The All Ireland Talent Show'' was a Raidió Teilifís Éireann television series which was billed as Ireland's biggest-ever talent contest. It was first announced in November 2008 and the first series commenced broadcasting on 4 January 2009, ...

'' (2009-2011) and the sports quiz show, ''Put 'Em Under Pressure''. Seoige also fronted documentary series for RTÉ, including ''Gráinne Seoige's Modern Life'' (2011) and ''Great Irish Journeys'', which explored Ireland during the Great Famine. A fluent Irish speaker, Seoige often appears on ''Tell Me a Story'', a programme on the subsidiary children's channel RTÉjr, in which she tells stories in Irish. In 2022, Seoige appeared on the fifth series of the Irish version of ''Dancing With the Stars''. She was partnered with John Nolan. The couple ended up finishing in 8th place.

ITV

During 2010, Seoige appeared regularly on British channel ITV, as a presenter on breakfast programme GMTV and as features editor on ITV Breakfast's morning programme '' Daybreak''.Daybreaking news!
GMTV, 20 July 2010 She covered both national and international news.

BBC One

In 2011, she appeared on the BBC One series ''That's Britain'' covering issues including train overcrowding and energy prices.

Personal life

Seoige has a son, Conall, who was born when she was 20. In 2002, Seoige married former TV3 colleague and long-term partner Stephen Cullinane; they divorced in 2010. Seoige was honoured by NUI Galway in 2007 with an Alumni Award for her services to the Irish language. Seoige announced her

engagement An engagement or betrothal is the period of time between the declaration of acceptance of a marriage proposal and the marriage itself (which is typically but not always commenced with a wedding). During this period, a couple is said to be ''fi ...

to South African businessman and former rugby coach

Leon Jordaan Leon, Léon (French) or León (Spanish) may refer to: Places Europe * León, Spain, capital city of the Province of León * Province of León, Spain * Kingdom of León, an independent state in the Iberian Peninsula from 910 to 1230 and again f ...

in 2014. In 2016, Seoige relocated to Pretoria, South Africa, and launched a bespoke diamond dealing business. Seoige and Jordaan married in December 2019.

References

;Interviews
Appearance
on ''

Tubridy Tonight ''Tubridy Tonight'' is a talk show hosted by Ryan Tubridy that aired on RTÉ One for five seasons between 2004 and 2009. The programme featured guest interviews (usually three per show), audience participation and live music from both a guest mu ...

'' following move to RTÉ
"Seoige talks Talent and Late Late Shows"
– RTÉ Entertainment

– RTÉ Fashion

External links

Official UK website

Gráinne Seoige
on Twitter *
Yahoo! Group Fan club
*

''Seoige and O'Shea'', RTÉ {{DEFAULTSORT:Seoige, Grainne 1973 births Living people Alumni of the University of Galway Ireland AM hosts Irish expatriates in England Irish expatriates in South Africa Irish television journalists ITV Breakfast presenters and reporters People from County Galway RTÉ television presenters TG4 newsreaders and journalists The Panel (Irish TV series) presenters Virgin Media News newsreaders and journalists 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people