Eileen Dunne

Dunne was born in Dublin. Her father was the RTÉ journalist, presenter and commentator, Mick Dunne, a native of Clonaslee, County Laois. She attended secondary school at Manor House School, Raheny.[2] She studied Arts at University College Dublin.

Dunne joined RTÉ in 1980 as a part-time radio announcer.[1] 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.[3][4]

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.[1] She was the International President of the Association of European Journalists (2010–2014).[5][6][7]

Dunne was the spokesperson giving the results of the Irish jury (and televote in 1998) 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 (2011) and Albert Reynolds (2014) and the state commemoration of the Battle of the Somme (2016). Eileen Dunne also presented the coverage of Pope Francis's visit to Knock Shrine in County Mayo in August 2018, as part of RTÉ's extensive coverage of the World Meeting of Families 2018 celebrations, she co-presented this coverage live from Knock while her colleague Caitríona Perry was in the studio in Dublin.

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, and the Green Party pulling out of government on 23 January 2011. In September 2018, Eileen Dunne will now be the most senior news anchor in the RTÉ Newsroom after Bryan Dobson moved from presenting the Six-One news bulletins in October 2017 to join radio broadcasting on Morning Ireland.

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.