Eileen Dunne is an Irish journalist, newsreader and presenter with Raidió Teilifís Éireann, Ireland's national radio and television station, where she has presented the main television news programmes Six One News, and including all other news bulletins on both radio and television. She is currently the co-anchor alongside Sharon Ní Bheoláin of RTÉ's flagship and presents afternoon bulletins for RTÉ Radio 1.
Dunne joined RTÉ in 1980 as a part-time radio announcer. She continued her teaching duties, while working part-time as a radio continuity announcer on RTÉ Radio 1. She began presenting television news bulletins in 1984. In addition to her news work, Dunne also presented the religious affairs programme The God Slot for RTÉ Radio 1 on Friday nights, having previously presented Eileen Dunne's Classic Melodies for RTÉ lyric fm until 2010. She was the International President of the Association of European Journalists. Dunne was the spokesperson giving the results of the Irish jury in the Eurovision Song Contest between 1989 and 1998. Eileen Dunne regularly features on RTÉ coverage of major state occasions. In 2016, she was co-anchor with Bryan Dobson for the official state commemoration of the centenary of the 1916 Rising. She provided the RTÉ television commentary on the state funerals of Garret FitzGerald and Albert Reynolds and the state commemoration of the Battle of the Somme. Eileen Dunne also presented the coverage of Pope Francis's visit to Knock Shrine in 2018. She presented news programmes from the UK on the State Visit of President Higgins to the UK in 2014, from Dublin Castle and Croke Park during Queen Elizabeth's State visit to Ireland in 2011 and from Ballybunion during President Bill Clinton's visit to Ireland in 1998. She also presented from Rome on the inauguration of Pope Benedict in 2005 and his resignation in 2013 and from Blacksod Bay, Mayo on the day of the R116 Air Crash in 2017. Other major live news specials she presented include the Concorde Crash on 25 July 2000, the result of the Papal Conclave on 19 April 2005, the IRA announcement that it was ending its armed campaign in Northern Ireland on 28 July 2005, the Green Party pulling out of government on 23 January 2011, and the arrival of President Trump in Ireland on 5 June 2019.
Personal life
She is married to the actor Macdara Ó Fátharta since 1993; he plays the part of the villain Tadhg in the Irish language TG4 drama, Ros na Rún. They have one son, Cormac.
