Sean O'Rourke (born 22 May 1955) is an Irish journalist and broadcaster who works for the Irish public broadcaster,

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, ...

. From September 2013 until his retirement in May 2020, he presented the '' Today with Seán O'Rourke'' show every weekday from 10:00am until midday on

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 ...

Career

An arts graduate from

University College Galway The University of Galway () is a public university, public research university located in the city of Galway, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The university was founded in 1845 as "Queen's College, Galway". It was known as "University College, Ga ...

, O'Rourke has previously worked for the ''

Connacht Tribune The ''Connacht Tribune'' (''An Curadh Connachtach'') is a newspaper circulating chiefly in County Galway, Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Ge ...

'', '' The Sunday Press'' and ''

The Irish Press ''The Irish Press'' (irish language, Irish: ''Scéala Éireann'') was an Ireland, Irish national daily newspaper published by Irish Press plc between 5 September 1931 and 25 May 1995. History Foundation The paper's first issue was published o ...

''. In 1989 he joined

RTÉ News RTÉ News and Current Affairs (), also known simply as RTÉ News (''Nuacht RTÉ''), is the national news service provided by Irish public broadcaster (RTÉ). Its services include local, national, European and international news, investigative ...

. For RTÉ he has presented '' Morning Ireland'' and '' This Week''. In 1995 he moved to the '' News at One''. On television he has presented ''

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 ...

'', ''

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 ...

'' and '' The Week in Politics''. From 2013 to May 2020 he presented the popular weekday radio programme, ''Today with'', as ''Today with Sean O'Rourke'', being succeeded by Sarah McInerney and then Claire Byrne in that role. In August 2020, O'Rourke apologised for his involvement in the Oireachtas Golf Society scandal. RTÉ announced that planned projects involving O'Rourke would not proceed.

Awards

O'Rourke has won ESB National Media Awards: Radio Broadcaster of the Year 1997, NUI Galway Alumni Award for Arts, Media & Communications 2007 and 2008 PPI News Broadcaster of the Year. In June 2011 he was awarded an honorary

Doctorate of Laws A Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) is a doctoral degree in legal studies. The abbreviation LL.D. stands for ''Legum Doctor'', with the double “L” in the abbreviation referring to the early practice in the University of Cambridge to teach both canon law ...

by his

alma mater Alma mater (; : almae matres) is an allegorical Latin phrase meaning "nourishing mother". It personifies a school that a person has attended or graduated from. The term is related to ''alumnus'', literally meaning 'nursling', which describes a sc ...

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 ...

Personal life

O'Rourke was born in

Portlaoise Portlaoise ( ), or Port Laoise (), is the county town of County Laois, Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Midland Region, Ireland, South Midlands in the province of Leinster. Portlaoise was the fastest growing of the top 20 largest town ...

, one of eight children of local school principal and hurling enthusiast Kevin O’Rourke. The family later moved to

Galway Galway ( ; , ) is a City status in Ireland, city in (and the county town of) County Galway. It lies on the River Corrib between Lough Corrib and Galway Bay. It is the most populous settlement in the province of Connacht, the List of settleme ...

, where he was educated at

Coláiste Iognáid Coláiste Iognáid SJ (), a bilingual secondary school, is located on Sea Road in Galway, Ireland. It was founded in 1645 and has had numerous locations over the years before its current home. The college is a co-educational, non-fee-paying sec ...

. He is married to Caroline Murphy and has six children, one of whom is a human rights lawyer, Maeve O'Rourke. He is a practising

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. As of 2013, he was chair of NUI Galway's alumni association.

References

External links

RTÉ Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Orourke, Sean 1955 births Living people Alumni of the University of Galway Writers from County Galway Writers from County Laois RTÉ newsreaders and journalists RTÉ Radio 1 presenters People from Portlaoise Broadcasters from County Laois People educated at Coláiste Iognáid