Claire Byrne (born 11 August 1975) is an Irish

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalis ...

and

television presenter A television presenter (or television host, some become a " television personality") is a person who introduces, hosts television programs, often serving as a mediator for the program and the audience. Nowadays, it is common for people who garne ...

. Byrne presented ''

The Daily Show ''The Daily Show'' is an American late-night talk and satirical news television program. It airs each Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central with release shortly after on Paramount+. ''The Daily Show'' draws its comedy and satire form fr ...

'' from September 2010 to March 2012. In 2013, she became an anchor on

RTÉ (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, whil ...

's flagship current affairs programme ''

Prime Time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

''. From January 2015 until May 2022, she hosted her own self-titled weekly current affairs television programme, ''Claire Byrne Live''. In August 2020, she took over the hosting of the ''Today with ...'' programme, presenting it as '' Today with Claire Byrne'' 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 ...

Early life

Byrne is the daughter of Tom and Breda Byrne. She grew up on the family farm and was educated locally at the Brigidine Convent. She later studied Politics, Sociology and Social Science at

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 ...

, but did not complete the course. She subsequently attended the

Rathmines College of Further Education Rathmines College is an educational institution in Rathmines, Dublin. The college offers several Further Education courses in areas not limited to accounting, business, computing, media studies, and office administration. Campus locations It has ...

where she studied journalism.

Career

Byrne began her broadcasting career with East Coast Radio and worked with

BBC Radio BBC Radio is an operational business division and service of the British Broadcasting Corporation (which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a royal charter since 1927). The service provides national radio stations covering ...

in the

Channel Islands The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...

, before becoming news editor with Channel 103 in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

. She returned to Ireland shortly afterwards to take up her first television job as a reporter on the fledgling

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 E ...

. Byrne left after just one year to work as London news anchor with Channel 5 and later with

ITV News ITV News is the branding of news programmes on the British television network ITV. ITV has a long tradition of television news. Independent Television News (ITN) was founded to provide news bulletins for the network in 1955, and has since con ...

, but was lured back to TV3 to present the station's breakfast show '' Ireland AM''. In 2004, she replaced

Gráinne Seoige 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 ...

as the main female presenter of the '' TV3 News at 5.30''. Byrne joined the independent Irish radio station

Newstalk Newstalk (formerly NewsTalk 106) is a national independent radio station in Ireland. It is operated by News 106 Limited, a subsidiary of Bauer Media Audio Ireland, and broadcasts under a sound broadcasting contract with the Broadcasting Aut ...

in 2006, amid a high-profile legal case with her former employer TV3, which went to court to stop the news anchor broadcasting on Newstalk's breakfast slot. She presented the show with Ger Gilroy, with Ivan Yates taking over as co-presenter in 2009. In 2010, Byrne presented her last breakfast show with Newstalk before moving to

where she co-presented, until March 2012, ''

'' with Daithí Ó Sé. Claire Byrne at RTÉ's winter season launch (cropped)

In a major shake up of news broadcasts on RTÉ in early 2013, Byrne joined the current affairs programme ''

'' as an anchor joining Miriam O'Callaghan and Pat Kenny. In November 2014, it was announced that she would have her own current affairs show, ''Claire Byrne Live'', which would be 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 ...

from January 2015. In August 2020 Byrne took over as presenter of the re-titled '' Today with Claire Byrne'', which had been known as '' Today with Sarah McInerney'' for the summer, after the retirement of Sean O'Rourke. In February 2022, an episode of ''Claire Byrne Live'' aired entitled 'The Rise of Sinn Féin' which featured several guests explaining why they would or would not vote for

Sinn Féin Sinn Féin ( , ; en, " eOurselves") is an Irish republican and democratic socialist political party active throughout both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. The original Sinn Féin organisation was founded in 1905 by Arthur Gr ...

. The episode was subject to criticism for alleged bias against the party, the credibility of the responses, and questions raised about RTÉ's responsibilities as a public broadcaster. In May 2022, it was announced that ''Claire Byrne Live'' would end, and its final episode would air on 30 May 2022.

Personal life

Byrne was previously married to radio executive Richard Johnson. The marriage ended in 2006. In 2013, she became engaged to business consultant Gerry Scollan. In 2016, Byrne married Scollan at a ceremony in Dublin attended by close friends and family. She has three children, a boy born in 2013, and two girls born in 2014 and 2017 respectively. In January 2015, she said in an interview that due to financial commitments she could not afford to be a stay at home mum for her children. On 23 March 2020, Byrne announced that she had tested positive for

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

. She returned to filming ''Claire Byrne Live'' in the RTÉ 1 studio on 6 April 2020. Her garden shed, from which she presented in 2020, became the focus of attention again on 4 April 2022 when Byrne tested positive for COVID-19 for a second time and presented both her radio and television programme from the shed.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Byrne, Claire 1975 births Living people Alumni of University College Dublin East Coast FM presenters Ireland AM hosts Newstalk presenters People from County Laois RTÉ television presenters Irish women radio presenters Irish women television presenters Irish women journalists Virgin Media News newsreaders and journalists