Eimear Ní Chonaola (; born 1977) is an Irish journalist and television presenter from

Spiddal Spiddal, also known as Spiddle (Irish language, Irish and official name: , , meaning 'the hospital'), is a village on the shore of Galway Bay in County Galway, Ireland. It is west of Galway city, on the R336 road (Ireland), R336 road. It is o ...

County Galway County Galway ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Northern and Western Region, taking up the south of the Provinces of Ireland, province of Connacht. The county population was 276,451 at the 20 ...

. Since 2006, Ní Chonaola has been the news anchor on

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 ...

's main evening news broadcast '' Nuacht TG4'' and ''

Nuacht RTÉ Nuacht RTÉ le TG4 (Irish for ''RTÉ News by TG4'') is the main news service for Irish speakers on RTÉ television. The service is broadcast from the news studios at Baile na hAbhann in the Connemara Gaeltacht, County Galway, Ireland. Nuacht RT ...

''.

Life

Early life

Ní Chonaola was born in an Síán in the Gaeltacht town of

. A native Irish speaker, she graduated from

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 ...

with a

B.A. A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts degree ...

in 1997 and a Higher Diploma in Applied Communication in 1998.

Journalistic career

Ní Chonaola was part of the Nuacht TG4 team from the beginning, joining the newsroom as a journalist in October 2000. In 2001, she began presenting for the first time, beginning with the shorter weekend bulletins. She took over as main anchor from

Siún Nic Gearailt Siún Nic Gearailt (; born 14 September 1971) is a newsreader with RTÉ and Teilifís na Gaeilge (corporation), Teilifís na Gaeilge (TG4) in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. She currently presents ''Nuacht RTÉ'' and ''Nuacht TG4'' and has presen ...

on 25 September 2006. Ní Chonaola chaired the first ever election debate in Irish on 16 February 2011, when she hosted one of the official debates of the

2011 Irish general election The 2011 Irish general election took place on Friday 25 February to elect 166 Teachta Dála, Teachtaí Dála across Dáil constituencies, 43 constituencies to Dáil Éireann, the lower house of Republic of Ireland, Ireland's parliament, the Oir ...

. The high-profile debate not only brought greater exposure, but her performance as chairperson of the three-way discussion between

Enda Kenny Enda Kenny (born 24 April 1951) is an Irish former Fine Gael politician who served as Taoiseach from 2011 to 2017, Leader of Fine Gael from 2002 to 2017, Minister for Defence (Ireland), Minister for Defence from May to July 2014 and 2016 to 201 ...

Eamon Gilmore Eamon Gilmore (born 24 April 1955) is an Irish diplomat and former Labour Party politician. He has served as European Union Special Representative for Human Rights since February 2019. He has also been the European Union Special Envoy for th ...

and

Micheál Martin Micheál Martin (; born 16 August 1960) is an Irish Fianna Fáil politician serving as Taoiseach since January 2025, having previously held the position from 2020 to 2022. Martin served as Tánaiste, Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Min ...

was widely credited in the national press. The debate was a big ratings win for TG4, with around 600,000 people watching live. Eimear Ní Chonaola took home three Oireachtas Awards as a result.

Irish language support

Ní Chonaola appeared on '' The Late Late Show'' on 4 March 2011, along with Coman Goggins and Róisín Ní Chúaláin to promote

Seachtain na Gaeilge Seachtain na Gaeilge (English: ''Irish language week''), known for sponsorship purposes as Seachtain na Gaeilge le Energia, is an annual international festival promoting the Irish language and culture, both in Ireland and all around the world. ...

. As part of Seachtain na Gaeilge 2012, she launched a business initiative along with Gaillimh le Gaeilge.

Personal life

Ní Chonaola has a son, Cuan.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ni Chonaola, Eimear 1977 births Living people Alumni of the University of Galway Broadcasters from County Galway TG4 newsreaders and journalists 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people People from Spiddal