Carla O'Brien (born 5 October 1983) is an Irish television presenter and multimedia journalist, working 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 service, where she has presented ''

Crimecall ''Crimecall'' is a television show broadcast once monthly on RTÉ. It is co-produced in Dublin, Ireland, by Green Ink Ltd and 360 Production South Ltd. Since September 2023, the show has been presented by journalist Carla O'Brien. It is a second ...

'' since September 2023. She previously presented

's ''

news2day ''news2day'' is an Republic of Ireland, Irish Children's news program, children's television news programme, broadcast weekdays at 4:20pm on RTÉ Kids on RTÉ2. It is 10 to 15 minutes long, with 15 minute recap episodes on Saturdays. It is sim ...

'' from 2012 to 2014 and ''

Newsfeed In computing, a news aggregator, also termed a feed aggregator, content aggregator, feed reader, news reader, or simply an aggregator, is client software or a web application that aggregates digital content such as online newspapers, blogs, po ...

'' from 2014 to 2017, as well as the '' Six One News'', '' Nine O'Clock News'' and '' One O'Clock News''. In her career as a dancer, she was Irish and world champion in Irish dancing, and for some years principal dancer with

Riverdance ''Riverdance'' is a theatrical show that consists mainly of traditional Irish music and dance. With a score composed by Bill Whelan, it originated as an interval act during the Eurovision Song Contest 1994, featuring Irish dancing champions J ...

Early life

O'Brien grew up on a farm near the village of Caledon in the south-east of

County Tyrone County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. Its county town is Omagh. Adjoined to the south-west shore of Lough Neagh, the cou ...

, and has two sisters and one brother. The youngest of four, she was active in Irish dancing from the age of 5. After secondary school, O'Brien attended

Queen's University Belfast The Queen's University of Belfast, commonly known as Queen's University Belfast (; abbreviated Queen's or QUB), is a public research university in Belfast, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. The university received its charter in 1845 as part of ...

, where she received a

Master of Science A Master of Science (; abbreviated MS, M.S., MSc, M.Sc., SM, S.M., ScM or Sc.M.) is a master's degree. In contrast to the Master of Arts degree, the Master of Science degree is typically granted for studies in sciences, engineering and medici ...

degree in management information systems and services.

Career

In 2005 O'Brien won the Irish dancing championship titles of Ulster, Ireland, Great Britain and the world. Then in September 2005 she took on a role as the

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

female dancer for ''

''. Starting with Japan, she also danced for a year in America and a year in Europe, finishing in 2008 back in Japan. She then moved to work as a

financial analyst A financial analyst is a professional undertaking financial analysis for external or internal clients as a core feature of the job. Deloitte Deloitte is a multinational professional services network based in London, United Kingdom. It is the largest professional services network in the world by revenue and number of employees, and is one of the Big Four accounting firms, along wi ...

, from August 2008 to December 2009. In 2010, O'Brien worked on the ''An Jig Gig'' Irish dancing TV programme with

TG4 TG4 (; , ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television channel. It launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on-demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was initially known as (TnaG), before bein ...

. In January 2011, she wrote a piece for the '' Galway City Tribune'' on the growing popularity of sean-nós Irish dancing. She joined Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) in May 2011, and worked as a researcher on

's '' News at One''. She presented

's ''

'' from 2011 to 2014, before presenting ''

'' from September 2014 to 2017. In September 2023, she became the new presenter of ''

''.

Personal life

O'Brien became the Tyrone

Rose A rose is either a woody perennial plant, perennial flowering plant of the genus ''Rosa'' (), in the family Rosaceae (), or the flower it bears. There are over three hundred Rose species, species and Garden roses, tens of thousands of cultivar ...

in 2010, competing for one of six places from the island of Ireland. She secured a place at

NUI Galway The University of Galway () is a public research university located in the city of Galway, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Galway" (UCG) () from 1908 to 1997 and as ...

to pursue a

Master of Arts A Master of Arts ( or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA or AM) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Those admitted to the degree have ...

degree in

journalism Journalism is the production and distribution of reports on the interaction of events, facts, ideas, and people that are the "news of the day" and that informs society to at least some degree of accuracy. The word, a noun, applies to the journ ...

from September 2010, graduating with First Class Honours, and winning an award for the highest marks in the broadcasting part of her course. In September 2013, O'Brien married

Ronan Glynn Ronan Glynn is an Irish Health professional, public health physician and Physical therapy, physiotherapist who served as Chief Medical Officer (Ireland)#Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Ireland from October 2018 to ...

, who had a friend on the Riverdance staff; he was Deputy Chief Medical Officer of Ireland from 2018 to 2022. They have two children. As of 2015, they lived in

Smithfield, Dublin Smithfield () is an area on the Northside, Dublin, Northside of Dublin, Ireland. Its focal point is a public square, formerly an open market and Common land, common, now officially called Smithfield Plaza, but known locally as Smithfield Square ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:OBrien, Carla 1983 births Broadcasters from County Tyrone RTÉ newsreaders and journalists Irish women journalists Irish women radio presenters Living people Alumni of Queen's University Belfast People from Caledon, County Tyrone