Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh (; born 12 November 1970) is an Irish TV presenter, she has presented ''

Echo Island ''Echo Island'' is an Irish television programme for children and young adults, shown on RTÉ Network 2. It was shown at 17:00 during ''The Den'', after which programmes like ''The Legend of the Hidden City'' would air. The show effectively to ...

'', ''

The Afternoon Show ''The Afternoon Show'' is Raidió Teilifís Éireann's former live flagship daytime show. It ran from 2004 until May 2010. The programme was dropped by RTÉ as part of its new season of television in 2010, to be replaced by two afternoon progr ...

'' and ''Charity ICA Bootcamp''. She was a judge in '' The All Ireland Talent Show'' and participated in ''

Celebrity Bainisteoir ''Celebrity Bainisteoir'' was a prime-time reality programme created by Fiona Looney and first broadcast in 2008 by RTÉ. It involved a number of celebrities competing against each other as a Gaelic football team coach. The title derived from ...

''. Since 2020, she has been a presenter on the RTÉ magazine programme '' Nationwide''.

Career

Ní Chofaigh is a journalist, presenter and broadcaster on Irish television. Former presenter of ''Sin É'', and former reporter for

RTÉ News and Current Affairs (; ; 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, ...

, she covered stories as diverse as the Clinton visit;

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games The 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games () were hosted in Dublin, Ireland, with participants staying in various host towns around the island of Ireland (Northern Ireland and Republic of Ireland) in the lead up to the games before moving t ...

; tall ships and female genital mutilation. Ní Chofaigh has presented shows such as ''

'', ''

'' and The

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, ...

People in Need People in Need (PIN; ) is a Czech nonprofit, non-governmental organisation based in Prague, Czech Republic. PIN implements Humanitarian Aid, humanitarian relief and long term Development aid, development projects, educational programmes, and huma ...

Telethon A telethon (a portmanteau of "television" and "marathon") is a televised fundraising event that lasts many hours or days, the purpose of which is to raise money for a charitable, political or other cause. Most telethons feature heavy solicitatio ...

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland's public service broadcaster. Its first channel was Telefís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since the 1960s, RTÉ Television has added chan ...

. Her first role as a TV presenter was with the teenage weekly evening show ''Jo Maxi'' during the early 1990s. At the time she featured on advert for Oil of Ulay. Ní Chofaigh presents the

Saint Patrick's Day Saint Patrick's Day, or the Feast of Saint Patrick (), is a religious and cultural holiday held on 17 March, the traditional death date of Saint Patrick (), the foremost patron saint of Ireland. Saint Patrick's Day was made an official Chris ...

Parade live every year in Dublin City. She translated the song "The Best is Yet to Come" into the

Irish language Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Irish Gaelic or simply Gaelic ( ), is a Celtic language of the Indo-European language family. It is a member of the Goidelic languages of the Insular Celtic sub branch of the family and is indigenous ...

for the '' Metal Gear Solid Original Game Soundtrack''. Ní Chofaigh announced the votes for

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

in the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

. Ní Chofaigh co-presented ''The Afternoon Show'' from the first season in 2003 but abandoned it in 2009, complaining of health problems. The show was axed in 2010 a year after she left. She was a judge on '' The All Ireland Talent Show'', and had great success on the final season with her act Daniel Furlong who took home the trophy. In 2007 she was voted one of Ireland's sexiest women in a Sunday Independent magazine poll. In 2010, Ní Chofaigh took part in the reality TV series ''

'', managing Nobber GFC, based in her home county of Meath. She took the team as far as the semi-final and then she lost. In 2011, Ní Chofaigh began hosting a new series called ''Charity ICA Bootcamp'', which pitted celebrities taking on each other in challenges, with the winner

Peter Clohessy Peter Clohessy (born 22 March 1966) is an Irish former rugby union player, who played for Munster, Queensland Reds and Ireland. He played as a prop and was known by his fans as "The Claw". He played most of his career at tighthead prop but late ...

receiving money to give to his chosen charity. Ní Chofaigh was back on television with another afternoon lifestyle day-time talk show on RTÉ One in November 2012 alongside Norah Casey. In January 2013, Ni Chofaigh made her acting debut in the TG4 series ''

Crisis Eile ''An Crisis'' ("The Crisis", using the Irish article and the English noun) is an Irish comedy television series which was first broadcast on TG4 in 2010 as a six-part miniseries satirising the inner workings of an Irish-language quango. It wa ...

'', playing politician Maeve Kelly-Clarke. Following the retirement of long-serving host

Mary Kennedy Mary Kennedy (; born 4 October 1954) is an Irish television personality and former newscaster, and writer. She presented the Eurovision Song Contest 1995 from the Point Theatre in Dublin. She has also presented her own Saturday night chat show c ...

, in 2020 Ní Chofaigh became a co-presenter of the long-running RTÉ magazine programme '' Nationwide'', broadcast three times a week. In 2022, Ní Chofaigh gave a

TEDx TED Conferences, LLC (Technology, Entertainment, Design) is an American-Canadian non-profit media organization that posts international talks online for free distribution under the slogan "Ideas Change Everything" (previously "Ideas Worth Sprea ...

talk, through Irish on the topic of being an Irish speaker in modern Ireland.

Personal life

Born in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, she was raised in the

Gaeltacht A ( , , ) is a district of Ireland, either individually or collectively, where the Irish government recognises that the Irish language is the predominant vernacular, or language of the home. The districts were first officially recognised ...

Ráth Chairn Ráth Chairn () is a small village and Gaeltacht ( Irish-speaking area) in County Meath, Ireland. It is about 55 km northwest of Dublin. Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht was founded in 1935 when 27 families from Connemara, mostly from Ceantar na n ...

County Meath County Meath ( ; or simply , ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, within the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster. It is bordered by County Dublin to the southeast, County ...

. She is married with four children and currently lives 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 ...

. Ní Chofaigh is a native Irish speaker, and an Irish-language campaigner. Ní Chofaigh is an ambassador for the charity Plan Ireland.

References

External links

''The Afternoon Show''
at RTÉ.ie {{DEFAULTSORT:Ni Chofaigh, Blathnaid 1970 births 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Living people Canadian people of Irish descent Irish children's television presenters People from Monkstown, Dublin People from County Meath People from Ontario RTÉ television presenters Broadcasters from County Dublin