Ireland

Tommy Meskill has been appointed as RTÉ News’ new London Correspondent.
Tommy has been a journalist with RTÉ News for eight years, most recently as part of RTÉ’s political unit, reporting from Leinster House and the European Parliament.
He will be responsible for reporting across digital, radio and television on all aspects of life in Britian including political, economic, cultural and social affairs.
He joined the RTÉ newsroom in 2016, working across several different programmes, including news2day and Morning Ireland. He has also presented programmes such as RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week and RTÉ One’s European Parliament Report. Tommy Meskill is also an occasional newscaster with RTÉ News.
Tommy Meskill, originally from Co. Clare, studied Communications at Dublin City University. Prior to joining RTÉ he worked as a reporter with Dublin’s FM104 and Q102.
Reacting to his appointment Tommy Meskill said “I’m delighted to have been appointed as RTÉ’s new London Correspondent. It comes at a busy time, ahead of a General Election which could bring about significant change for the country. It’s an honour to have been chosen and I’m very excited to get started.”
Tommy will be taking up the new role from today. […]

Patricia Monahan is to join RTÉ’s Leadership Team as Director of Audio, following a public competition and the launch of a new strategic plan.
Patricia is currently Managing Editor at Newstalk, where she leads content across all the station’s platforms, and has been responsible for devising, developing and implementing the station’s content strategy.
She is also a member of the Bauer Media Audio Ireland Senior Leadership Team.
Patricia will join Steve Carson from BBC Scotland who has been announced today as RTÉ’s new Director of Video, on the organisation’s Leadership Team.
Kevin Bakhurst, Director-General, RTÉ, says: “The Director of Audio, along with the Director of Video, will be two pivotal positions in the reshaping and transformation of RTÉ.
“As we embark on an ambitious new audio strategy, Patricia will take responsibility for the development and editorial management of RTÉ’s audio and digital-audio services, including the programming of our four FM radio stations– RTÉ Radio 1, RTÉ 2fm, RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and RTÉ lyric fm – alongside our digital, online, and podcasting services.
“Ground-breaking public service audio production and distribution is a cornerstone of RTÉ’s new strategic direction, and Patricia’s proven leadership experience and track record in leading creative teams, her editorial experience and her unique ability to interpret audience insights, will make her an invaluable addition to our exceptionally strong Leadership Team.”
Patricia Monahan says: “I look forward to joining RTE in this exciting new role and as it embarks on its ambitious new strategy of which audio is such a critical part.
“RTE already plays a hugely significant role as a public service broadcaster on the audio landscape in Ireland. I look forward to working with all my new colleagues to develop the portfolio so that it continues to fulfil that role for many generations to come.”
You can access RTÉ’s new strategic plan, new Governance Framework, and the EAC Implementation Plan here. […]

Today FM has marked the arrival of Taylor Swift with a gigantic sign installed on a Dublin beach.
The large scale 20 letter sign read ‘Ireland (Taylor’s Version)’ in a nod to the album title editions.
Ahead of Taylor’s three sold out gigs in Aviva Stadium this weekend, Today FM shared the image and footage on social media yesterday (Thursday) with the caption “Spotted on a Dublin beach” before revealing they were behind the homage to Taylor.
In less than 24 hours the image and video has amassed huge engagement on social media with over 300,000 views. This morning Today FM released the full ‘making of’ the activation documenting the scale of the project.
The installation, which spans 100metres wide (the length of two Olympic size swimming pools) was commissioned by Today FM who worked with Mack Signs to bring the activation to life. Laid out and shot on a Dublin’s beach at sunrise earlier this week, the sign took a team of seven one week to create and features a subtle reference to Today FM’s logo, with sunshine rays adorning the ‘Ireland’.
Róisín Reilly, Head of Marketing at Today FM said: “Taylor Swift is nothing sure of a cultural phenomenon and a huge artist for Today FM listeners. Her Ireland gigs have been hotly anticipated for months and now that Taylor weekend is upon us, we wanted to celebrate her arrival in a unique and novel way.
“We had great fun creating this installation and if Taylor herself happens to see it, even better! The guys at Mack Signs really pulled all the stops out with this one and the Irish weather even played ball!”
Over the past few weeks, Today FM has been celebrating the arrival of Taylor Swift I The Eras Tour to Ireland, with Taylor Swift fans sharing their stories, a chance to win tickets as well as launching a dedicated 24/7 digital radio station on the Today FM app.
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The IBI has today highlighted the challenges facing core News and Current Affairs in the sector.
It comes following the announcement of the recovery plan in RTÉ and in the context of publicity about major and imminent Government decisions on broadcast funding.
The IBI believes believe it is absolutely vital that the crisis in News and Current Affairs in the sector is central to consideration by Government of wider funding for broadcasting.
The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland Chief Executive, Michael Kelly, said: “I would be highly concerned if the problems in RTÉ as outlined today were to be addressed in isolation without taking into account the need to preserve the core, day-to-day, News and Current Affairs in the independent sector, which constitutes very important Public Service Content provided to listeners by our stations. Currently zero funding from the Exchequer or TV licence is provided to the independent sector for its core News and Current Affairs.
“The survival of broadcast media is not just about RTÉ, and I have today written to the leaders of all of the political parties emphasising the nature of the crisis and seeking meetings to discuss it,” he said.
He continued: “While most of the public attention in the past year has related understandably to issues and problems around RTÉ, we in independent radio would emphasise that we face extremely serious challenges in funding and resourcing the specific News and Current Affairs part of our services.
“Against the background or major funding and resourcing challenges, it is clear that none of the schemes proposed up to now can help the core News and Current Affairs to survive and thrive in our sector in the near term.
“The Independent Broadcasters of Ireland believes that interim financial support can be, and must be, urgently made available to our sector. There is a crisis in News and Current Affairs in our sector and the direction of travel at the moment is that it could disappear, as has happened in regions in the UK and US.
“Helping save News and Current Affairs in Ireland’s independent radio sector can be done at a small fraction of the funding provided for broadcasting overall. Action is urgently needed now.” […]

Live 95 has announced that Down Syndrome Limerick is the station’s new charity partner.
The charity provides support and services to people with Down Syndrome and their families, the running of which require ongoing fundraising campaigns.
Live 95 Station Director, Joe Nash, said: “Choosing one good cause over another is obviously an almost impossible task, but we ultimately felt that Down Syndrome Limerick was a great fit for the radio station, for the next two years.
“We were inspired by Michelle Coughlan and her team of volunteers for their dedication to their cause and their passion to educate everyone about the amazing people who use their service.
“I also want to thank Julie White and Tess Hughes from our team for their significant contribution during this process.”
Sales and Marketing Manager with Live 95, Julie White, is looking forward to this collaboration: “We will use our ability to reach the Limerick audience to spread the word about Down Syndrome Limerick far and wide, including increasing understanding of their services and those who use them, while also helping to focus attention on their fundraising initiatives in Limerick”, she said.
Gillian Devlin, Alison Reeves, Kate Kennedy, Julie White, Luke Liddy, Emma Dinneen and Jodi Mulcahy with Michelle Coughlan and Ellen Tuffy, Down Syndrome Limerick been announced as Charity Partners with Limerick ‘s Live 95 FMPicture Brendan Gleeson
Chair of Down Syndrome Limerick, Michelle Coughlan, was delighted to link up with Live 95. She stated: “We are passionate about increasing awareness about our family members with Down Syndrome, while helping them to participate as fully as possible in our community and raising much needed funds for the resources we provide to people with Down Syndrome and their families. We are confident Live 95 will help us to do all of this and more, in the months ahead.”
Live 95 will be working with Down Syndrome Limerick on a variety of initiatives, using its on-air, online and social media platforms to spread the word and tell the stories of the people who make this local charity a success.
The station says it is confident that the generosity of its listeners will once again come to the fore for a great cause. […]

Raidió na Life has won the Radio Station of the Year award at the Celtic Media Awards 2024 in Cardiff.
It’s the second time the station has won the award in the past three years.
Raidió na Life was nominated side by side with nine other stations this year: 6 BBC radio stations: BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Foyle, BBC Radio nan Gàidheal, BBC Radio Cymru; Galicia’s Radio Galega; along with RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta and Raidió Fáilte.
Muiris Ó Fiannachta, Radio na Life Station Manager, said: “It is a huge source of pride for us to win Radio Station of the Year at the Celtic Media Festival 2024 in Cardiff, especially as it comes on the heels of us winning the award in Quimper in Britanny two years ago, in 2022.
“As we compete with big stations with huge resources behind them, we are incredibly proud of this achievement. We are so happy that the judges recognised that there is something special going on at Raidió na Life – the energy, the diversity, the vibrancy, the innovation, the fun and the spirit of our station; the wonderful programmes and the a wide selection of content which we broadcast to the Irish-speaking community, not only in the greater Dublin area, where we can be heard on 106.4FM, but nationwide and worldwide online.
“This is fantastic recognition for the creative, energetic work done by our brilliant team of volunteers in Raidió na Life. It’s also a great boost to and a huge vote of confidence in our wonderful staff who perform small miracles every day, keeping the show on the road and the station on the air.
“When you consider that there are more staff working on some programmes on some of the other stations we competed with this year than there are working in Raidió na Life in its entirety, this truly is a huge achievement by the Raidió na Life team and I cannot praise them enough.” […]