Laurita Blewitt (born 28 September 1983) is an Irish radio presenter and producer from

Knockmore, County Mayo Knockmore () is a village in County Mayo, Ireland in the Parish of Backs. It is adjacent to Lough Conn between the towns of Castlebar and Ballina. Sport The local Gaelic football, Knockmore GAA, has won 9 Mayo Senior Football Championships, th ...

. She is a podcaster on ''The

Tommy Tommy may refer to: People * Tommy (given name) * Tommy Atkins, or just Tommy, a slang term for a common soldier in the British Army Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Tommy'' (1931 film), a Soviet drama film * ''Tommy'' (1975 fil ...

and

Hector In Greek mythology, Hector (; grc, Ἕκτωρ, Hektōr, label=none, ) is a character in Homer's Iliad. He was a Trojan prince and the greatest warrior for Troy during the Trojan War. Hector led the Trojans and their allies in the defense o ...

Podcast with Laurita Blewitt'' since September 2020, and is an experienced fundraiser for the

Mayo Mayo often refers to: * Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo" * Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States Mayo may also refer to: Places Antarctica * Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land Australia * Division of Mayo, an Aust ...

Roscommon Roscommon (; ) is the county town and the largest town in County Roscommon in Ireland. It is roughly in the centre of Ireland, near the meeting of the N60, N61 and N63 roads. The name Roscommon is derived from Coman mac Faelchon who buil ...

Hospice Foundation. Blewitt previously served as sports reporter for ''

The Mayo News ''The Mayo News'' is a weekly local newspaper published in Westport in Ireland. History and profile The ''Mayo News'' was established in Westport in 1892. In 1968 the paper changed from Broadsheet to Tabloid to sell better. After writing sever ...

'' from 2006 to 2007, producer on

i102-104FM i102-104FM was a regional station in Ireland, launched on 7 February 2008. The station had won a licence – as part of a strategy by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland to create a network of regional youth stations across the Republic – ...

's '' The Tommy and Hector Show'' and '' Breakfast with Bernard & Keith'' from 2007 to 2011,

parliamentary assistant In UK politics, a parliamentary assistant is an unelected partisan member of staff employed by a Member of Parliament (MP) to assist them with their parliamentary duties. Parliamentary assistants usually work at the House of Commons in the ...

Fine Gael Fine Gael (, ; English: "Family (or Tribe) of the Irish") is a liberal-conservative and Christian-democratic political party in Ireland. Fine Gael is currently the third-largest party in the Republic of Ireland in terms of members of Dáil � ...

John O'Mahony John Francis O'Mahony (1815 – 7 February 1877) was a Gaelic scholar and the founding member of the Fenian Brotherhood in the United States, sister organisation to the Irish Republican Brotherhood. Despite coming from a reasonably wealthy fa ...

from 2010 to 2011 and traffic manager for

MidWest Radio MidWest Radio is a radio station based in County Mayo, Ireland. Officially opened in 1989 (having operated previously as an unlicensed station), its current studios are located on Clare Street, Ballyhaunis. The JNLR/MRBI radio listenership sur ...

from 2012 to 2015. Blewitt is the

third cousin Most generally, in the lineal kinship system used in the English-speaking world, a cousin is a type of familial relationship in which two relatives are two or more familial generations away from their most recent common ancestor. Commonly, ...

of the 46th and current

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States ...

, Joe Biden.

Early life

Blewitt was born in

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 ...

. She attended St. Mary's Secondary School in

Ballina, County Mayo Ballina ( ; ) is a town in north County Mayo, Ireland. It lies at the mouth of the River Moy near Killala Bay, in the Moy valley and Parish of Kilmoremoy, with the Ox Mountains to the east and the Nephin Beg mountains to the west. The town ...

from 1996 to 2002 and

Ballyfermot College of Further Education Ballyfermot College of Further Education (BCFE; ) is an educational institution in Ballyfermot, Dublin, Ireland, a college of further and higher education. Management Ballyfermot College of Further Education is managed by the City of Dubl ...

from 2003 to 2005.

Personal life

In late 2021, Blewitt became engaged to

Joe Brolly Joe Brolly (born 25 June 1969 Dungiven, County Londonderry, Northern Ireland) is a Gaelic football analyst, former player and barrister who played at senior level for the Derry county team. Brolly played for Derry in the 1990s and early 2000s ...

, a Gaelic football analyst, former player and current barrister. They married at the Ice House Hotel in County Mayo in August 2022.

Cousin of Joe Biden

Blewitt is the

of Joe Biden, the 46th and current

. Blewitt and her older brother Joe have met Biden several times. In 2016, the Blewitts met Biden in Ireland when he visited as the 47th

vice president of the United States The vice president of the United States (VPOTUS) is the second-highest officer in the executive branch of the U.S. federal government, after the president of the United States, and ranks first in the presidential line of succession. The vice ...

, and in 2017 in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...

, when Biden was awarded the

Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is the highest civilian award of the United States, along with the Congressional Gold Medal. It is an award bestowed by the president of the United States to recognize people who have made "an especially merit ...

from

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, Obama was the first African-American president of the ...

. On

Inauguration Day The inauguration of the president of the United States is a ceremony to mark the commencement of a new four-year term of the president of the United States. During this ceremony, between 73 to 79 days after the presidential election, the pres ...

of Joe Biden on 20 January 2021, Blewitt appeared on British

daytime television Daytime is a block of television programming taking place during the late-morning and afternoon on weekdays. Daytime programming is typically scheduled to air between the hours of 9:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m., following the early morning da ...

programme '' This Morning'' and praised Biden for overcoming "such adversity" in his life and called criticism of his age "cheap and nasty".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Blewitt, Laurita 1983 births Living people Irish radio presenters Irish women radio presenters Irish radio producers Women radio producers Broadcasters from County Mayo Irish podcasters Irish women podcasters 21st-century Irish women Irish sports journalists Writers from County Mayo