RTÉ is pleased to announce that Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh will be joining Nationwide in 2020 alongside presenter Anne Cassin, as broadcaster Mary Kennedy departs the team. With over 20 years’ broadcasting and presenting experience, Bláthnaid will join RTÉ’s much loved series featuring positive good news stories from all over Ireland.
Nationwide is enjoyed by an average audience of 250,000 people every Monday, Wednesday and Friday at 7.00pm on RTÉ One, with a unique blend of news and views from communities throughout Ireland. With programmes featuring Irish tourism destinations, entrepreneurs throughout the land, craftspeople, food producers, fashion designers, farmer inventors, people recalling historic events and the extraordinary stories of ordinary people in different parts of Ireland, Nationwide is a celebration of the ingenuity of the people who call Ireland home.
Commenting on her new role Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh said: “I am really looking forward to joining the Nationwide team and can’t wait to meet the people that share their stories with RTÉ from all around the country. I’m so pleased to take on the role, following the wonderful Mary Kennedy, especially on a programme that is such a firm favourite with so many viewers and shares such positivity. Táim chomh bródúil bheith ar chlár telefíse atá chomh h-aitheanta.“
Bláthnaid is married to Ciarán and lives in Dublin with her four children. Born in Canada and brought up in the Ráth Chairn Gaeltacht in Meath, the native Irish speaker completed a MA in Women & Gender Studies in UCD in 2016.
Bláthnaid will join co-presenter Anne Cassin on screens in January 2020.