Una O'Hagan (born 1962) is an Irish author, journalist and former newsreader with

RTÉ (; ; RTÉThe É in RTÉ is pronounced as an English E () and not an Irish É ()) is an Irish public service broadcaster. It both produces and broadcasts programmes on television, radio and online. The radio service began on 1 January 1926, ...

, Ireland's national radio and television station. She presented the main television news programmes '' Six One News'', '' Nine O'Clock News'' and '' One O'Clock News'' including all other news bulletins on both radio and television. For nine years, from 1996 to 2005, she co-presented the station's flagship news programme ''Six One News'' with

Bryan Dobson Bryan David Dobson (born 10 February 1960) is an Irish journalist, now retired, a newscaster and presenter who worked for RTÉ. He presented the '' RTÉ News at One'' on RTÉ Radio One, '' RTÉ News: Six One,'' '' RTÉ News: Nine O'Clock'', mo ...

. O'Hagan presented her last news bulletin on Sunday 25 February 2018. O'Hagan was born in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

in 1962 and attended Dominican College,

Eccles Street Eccles Street () is a street in Dublin, Ireland. History Eccles Street began on 6 March 1769 when Ambrose Eccles, Isaac-Ambrose Eccles leased three parcels of land in the area. The street is named after his family, including his grandfather Joh ...

. She studied journalism at the

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological University Dublin, as TU Dublin City Campus. The insti ...

, graduating in 1982. The following year, 1983, she joined RTÉ, where she worked as a newsreader on RTÉ Radio 2. In early 1986, she became a member of RTÉ's news reporting staff. In 1990, in

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, she met and interviewed

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

, who had been released from captivity on

Robben Island Robben Island () is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 kilometres (4.3 mi) west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, north of Cape Town, South Africa. It takes its name from the Dutch language, Dutch word for seals (''robben''), hence the Dutch/Afrika ...

just two weeks earlier. In 1992, she accompanied Ireland's first woman president,

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senato ...

, on a state visit to

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

, having already covered her election as

President of Ireland The president of Ireland () is the head of state of Republic of Ireland, Ireland and the supreme commander of the Defence Forces (Ireland), Irish Defence Forces. The presidency is a predominantly figurehead, ceremonial institution, serving as ...

(Uachtaráin na hÉireann) in 1990. She also reported on the release of Beirut hostage Brian Keenan in 1990, the negotiations in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

for the new

EU constitution The Treaty establishing a Constitution for Europe (TCE; commonly referred to as the European Constitution or as the Constitutional Treaty) was an unratified international treaty intended to create a consolidated constitution for the European ...

in 2003, and she co-presented RTÉ's coverage of the events of

9/11 The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...

. As a newscaster, she hosted live programmes on the deaths of former

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

Jack Lynch John Mary Lynch (15 August 1917 – 20 October 1999) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach from 1966 to 1973 and 1977 to 1979. He was Leader of Fianna Fáil from 1966 to 1979, Leader of the Opposition from 1973 to 1977, ...

in 1999 and

Garret FitzGerald Garret Desmond FitzGerald (9 February 192619 May 2011) was an Irish Fine Gael politician, economist, and barrister who served twice as Taoiseach, serving from 1981 to 1982 and 1982 to 1987. He served as Leader of Fine Gael from 1977 to 1987 an ...

in 2011, the visit of

Queen Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

to Ireland in 2011, and the

2012 United States presidential election United States presidential election, Presidential elections were held in the United States on November 6, 2012. Incumbent Democratic Party (United States), Democratic President Barack Obama and his running mate, incumbent Vice President Joe Bi ...

. She was married to author and former RTÉ broadcaster, the late Colm Keane. They lost their only son (and

only child An only child is a person with no siblings, by birth or adoption. Overview Throughout history, only-children were relatively uncommon. From around the middle of the 20th century, birth rates and average family sizes fell sharply for a number of ...

) Seán to cancer in 2007. They wrote four books together: the No.1 bestseller ''The Little Flower, St. Thérèse of Lisieux: The Irish Connection'', published in September 2018, and the bestselling book ''Animal Crackers: Irish Pet Stories'', published in June 2016. Their most recent co-written books were ''The Village of Bernadette: Lourdes, Stories, Miracles and Cures - The Irish Connection'', published in September 2019, and ''The Book of St. Brigid'', published in September 2021.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ohagan, Una 1962 births 20th-century Irish women 21st-century Irish women writers Living people Alumni of Dublin Institute of Technology Broadcasters from Dublin (city) RTÉ newsreaders and journalists Irish women radio presenters Irish women journalists