Cathal Dowd announced as RTÉ news2day presenter

First time television presenter Cathal Dowd, aged 23, from Wexford is the newest addition to the news2day team. news2day is RTÉ’s news service designed specifically for children, featuring Irish and international news of interest to a young audience.

Following a call out by RTÉ to media and journalism graduates across the country, and a comprehensive audition process, Cathal was chosen to join the team. He begins broadcasting today, Monday 1 September, on RTÉ2, RTÉ News channel and RTÉ Player.

Cathal, from Wexford Town, attended the Mercy and CBS Primary schools before attending St Peter’s College secondary school. In 2022 he started at Dublin City University and studied Journalism for three years, graduating this year. During his time in college, Cathal worked in a number of different media roles including covering local news at WLR FM, as a sportswriter at Balls.ie, and commentating and reporting on League of Ireland games with Wexford FC.  An enthusiast of all thing’s news and current affairs, this is his first time presenting television. Cathal is a huge sports fan, and his favourite hobbies are soccer, running and golf. He also loves reading, poetry and writing in his free time.

Speaking about his new presenter and reporter role, Cathal said: “I am absolutely delighted to be joining the news2day team. It’s such an exciting and surreal opportunity to be able to be part of a show that I watched growing up. To now be in the place of people who shaped my early love for news and media is an absolute honour.  It’s going to be a fantastic experience to be part of this wonderful team and to help bring news and current affairs to screens and classrooms across the country, keeping them up to date with all that’s happening in the world. Most of all, I’m really looking forward to meeting people, from schools and elsewhere, all over the nation and sharing their stories with the children of Ireland.”    

Cathal joins news2day presenter Florence Okojie from Dublin. Florence has been with news2day since September 2024.

news2day is broadcast Monday-Friday at 4.20pm on RTÉ2 and RTÉ News channel. It is RTÉ’s number one home-produced programme for kids on RTÉ Player. In addition to young viewers tuning in at home, news2day is widely watched in classrooms on RTÉ Player and is used as a teaching tool. Watch Florence and Cathal on RTÉ news2day at: www.rte.ie/news2day