RTÉ News Announces New Presenter Appointments
RTÉ News today announced that Sharon Tobin and Ray Kennedy will be permanent presenters of the RTÉ Six One News and Nine O’Clock News respectively. Journalist Sharon Tobin will join David McCullagh as the new presenting team for RTÉ’s flagship Six One News from today, Monday 4th September. Broadcaster Ray Kennedy will present the RTÉ Nine O’Clock News on rotation with Sharon Ní Bheolain. Announcing the new appointments, Director of RTÉ News & Current Affairs Deirdre McCarthy said: “For all of us who work in News & Current Affairs the flagship Six One News and Nine O’Clock News are among our most watched and valued television programmes and represent the best of our daily newsgathering and trusted public service journalism. Sharon and Ray join our dedicated News & Current Affairs presentation team who strive every hour of every day to tell honestly and clearly, with integrity and credibility, the stories that matter to you, your families and your communities. They are accomplished journalists, and I am delighted they are joining the presentation team. Along with Eileen Whelan who will continue to anchor the One O’Clock News, our News & Current Affairs presentation team is a group of talented presenters who will continue to ask the probing questions, hold those in power to account and represent the public interest.”
In 2008, Sharon Tobin joined RTÉ News, as journalist and TV reporter. Sharon has been a regular news presenter in studio and for outside broadcasts in Ireland and abroad, such as the death of Britain’s Queen Elizabeth. Sharon has co-presented RTÉ television’s annual Budget coverage, hosted the current affairs programme Monday Night Live, and presented RTÉ News specials, including President Biden’s visit to Ireland in 2023. She has also presented RTÉ Radio 1’s This Week programme.Sharon graduated with a BA in Media Management and Production from Ballyfermot College of Further Education in 2000. Prior to joining RTÉ, she worked in local independent radio stations East Coast FM, Wicklow and Lite FM, Dublin and for regional newspapers the Liffey Champion, Kildare and Show Business Weekly, New York. In 2002, she joined TV3 as a reporter and TV News Anchor. Originally from Dublin, Sharon now lives with her family near Mullingar, in County Westmeath.
Ray Kennedy has most recently worked with RTÉ since 2008 as a journalist and newscaster. He has reported extensively from Africa on the humanitarian crisis throughout 2012 and 2013. He worked on RTÉ’s coverage of the visits by Queen Elizabeth II and President Barack Obama to Ireland. During this time, he also reported from the UK and Europe on the terrorist attacks that took place in Manchester, London and Paris. He was shortlisted for Amnesty International Media Awards for reports about poverty in Brazil ahead of the Rio Olympics. In 2016 he won the overall television journalist category in the Justice Media Awards for coverage of the Gorse Hill repossession case. More recently he was part of the presenting team for RTÉ’s coverage of the funeral of Queen Elizabeth II, the coronation of King Charles and the recent visit to Ireland by President Joe Biden.Ray previously spent almost five years as Ireland Correspondent with Sky News. Prior to this he worked as a reporter and news presenter for RTÉ and TV3 News. His career began in 1989, working as a reporter with the Irish Independent and Irish Press newspaper groups before both radio and television presenting. An award-winning journalist, he has held the posts of Political Correspondent with Independent Network News (INN). Weekend Anchor TV3 News, Ireland Correspondent Sky News International and Weekend Anchor RTÉ. He studied Journalism, Law & European Law at the Dublin Institute of Technology (now TUD). He also holds an Honours Degree in International Relations. He lives in Dublin and is married with two children.