Olivia O'Leary (born 1949) is an Irish journalist, writer and current affairs presenter.

Education

Educated at

St Leo's College, Carlow St. Leo's College is a girls' secondary school in Carlow, County Carlow, Ireland that was founded by the Sisters of Mercy in 1839. Notable alumni * Olivia O'Leary Olivia O'Leary (born 1949) is an Irish people, Irish journalist, writer ...

and at

University College Dublin University College Dublin (), commonly referred to as UCD, is a public research university in Dublin, Ireland, and a collegiate university, member institution of the National University of Ireland. With 38,417 students, it is Ireland's largest ...

(UCD), she worked with the ''Nationalist'' and ''Leinster Times'' in

Carlow Carlow ( ; ) is the county town of County Carlow, in the south-east of Republic of Ireland, Ireland, from Dublin. At the 2022 census of Ireland, 2022 census, it had a population of 27,351, the List of urban areas in the Republic of Ireland, ...

. In the late 1970s, she began working for ''

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

'' as parliamentary sketchwriter. She currently broadcasts a weekly political diary on

Drivetime DriveTime Automotive Group Inc. is an American used car retailer and finance company. It is based in Tempe, Arizona, and sells and finances cars to customers around the nation. The company was formerly known as Ugly Duckling and was renamed Dr ...

, a radio programme broadcast by Raidió Teilifís Éireann's channel

RTÉ Radio 1 RTÉ Radio 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 the station in 2010 w ...

. In 1972, she joined Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) as a current affairs presenter and later worked as a presenter on ''

Today Tonight ''Today Tonight'' was an Australian current affairs television program produced by the Seven Network. It aired from January 1995 to November 2019 in Adelaide and Perth. Editions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne were previously produced be ...

,'' '' Questions and Answers'' and ''

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

''. She became the first regular female senior presenter of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

's current affairs programme, ''

Newsnight ''Newsnight'' is the BBC's news and current affairs programme, providing in-depth investigation and analysis of the stories behind the day's headlines. It is broadcast weeknights at 10:30 on BBC Two and the BBC News channel; it is also avail ...

'' and also presented '' First Tuesday'', a monthly documentary strand produced by

Yorkshire Television ITV Yorkshire, previously known as Yorkshire Television and commonly referred to as just YTV, is the British television service provided by ITV Broadcasting Limited for the Yorkshire franchise area on the ITV (TV network), ITV network. Until 19 ...

for ITV. She has co-authored the book ''

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 ...

: The Authorised Biography'', with Dr Helen Burke, and in 2004 wrote ''Politicians and Other Animals'', a sketch on Irish politics. She was Chairperson of the Office of the Ombudsman's 20th Anniversary Conference. In 2009, she left the Roman Catholic Church over the cover up of clerical abuse scandals and the long-standing refusal of the church to ordain women. She was married to Paul Tansey, Economics Editor of ''

''. He died suddenly in September 2008. She has one daughter, Emily Tansey. On 5 December 2011 she was awarded an honorary doctorate by her alma mater UCD. In 2017,

Trinity College Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Unive ...

awarded her with an honorary doctorate. She is a cousin of TV personality and wine expert

Oz Clarke Robert Owen Clarke (born 1949), known as Oz Clarke, is a British wine writer, actor, television presenter and broadcaster. Early life Clarke's parents were a chest physician and a nursing sister. He is of Irish descent and was brought up Roma ...

Awards and honours

O'Leary won three

Jacob's Awards The Jacob's Awards were instituted in December 1962 as the first Irish television awards. Later, they were expanded to include radio. The awards were named after their sponsor, W. & R. Jacob & Co. Ltd., a biscuit manufacturer, and recipients ...

during her broadcasting career with RTÉ. Her first came in 1973 for her work as a radio news reporter. In 1982, she won her second Jacob's Award for her hosting of ''

''. Her chairing of ''Questions and Answers'' brought her a third award in 1986. She has also won a

Sony Award The Radio Academy Awards, started in 1983, were the most prestigious awards in the British radio industry. For most of their existence, they were run by ZAFER Associates, but in latter years were brought under the control of The Radio Academy ...

for her

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme ''Between Ourselves''. In 2019 she was admitted as a member of the

Royal Irish Academy The Royal Irish Academy (RIA; ), based in Dublin, is an academic body that promotes study in the natural sciences, arts, literature, and social sciences. It is Ireland's premier List of Irish learned societies, learned society and one of its le ...

References

External links

Olivia O'Leary
at the

British Film Institute The British Film Institute (BFI) is a film and television charitable organisation which promotes and preserves filmmaking and television in the United Kingdom. The BFI uses funds provided by the National Lottery to encourage film production, ...

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Oleary, Olivia 1949 births Living people 20th-century Irish people 21st-century Irish people Alumni of University College Dublin BBC Radio 4 presenters Converts to Anglicanism from Roman Catholicism Irish political writers Irish women journalists Jacob's Award winners Members of the Royal Irish Academy Writers from County Carlow RTÉ newsreaders and journalists RTÉ Radio presenters The Irish Times people Irish women radio presenters Women radio journalists People from Borris, County Carlow Broadcasters from County Carlow