Sarah McInerney responds to 'hilarious message' that she dresses inappropriately 

The viewer said the presenter dresses like she is 'going to a disco'

Sarah McInerney: 'Stuff about my appearance is water off a duck's back. I generally feel pretty comfortable with how I look'

RTÉ presenter Sarah McInerney has opened up about some of the complaints she receives from viewers, including one particular message which claimed that she dressed like she was “going to a disco”.

The 41-year-old said she was wearing a white pants suit on this particular occasion while presenting Prime Time when a message she received described her clothing as “completely inappropriate”.

“I got this hilarious message the other day saying, 'you know I really like your delivery etc, but if you wouldn't mind me saying, the clothes you wear on television are completely inappropriate,” she explained in an interview with Irish Country Magazine.

"'You look like you're going to a disco most of the time, you would be better off looking at your fellow presenters and seeing how they dress. No insult intended, Mary’."

McInerney said comments about her appearance are “water off a duck's back” and most of the time, she does get “a giggle out of it”

“I really think that lady didn't mean to insult me, she was genuinely trying to help. Stuff about my appearance is water off a duck's back. I generally feel pretty comfortable with how I look, it doesn't get to me,” she said.

However, she said comments on her performance leave her feeling “a bit more vulnerable”.

“My job is to ask the questions that people want asked and it is very hard to do that most of the time if not all of the time, because it is almost impossible to always be on your game but also to really be plugged into what people want asked. There is a lot of pressure," she admitted.

"Almost all of the time I get people contacting me saying, 'why didn't you do this, or ask them that?'. Sometimes it is only small things, but sometimes it is big obvious questions that I just haven't spotted. I kick myself in those moments."

Negative commentary on the way female presenters look is unfortunately not a new phenomenon and in recent months, Ireland AM presenter Muireann O’Connell  hit back at criticism about the way female presenters stand.

In a tongue-in-cheek video posted to Instagram, O’Connell responded to a suggestion from a LiveLine caller that the wide stance of female presenters is “slightly sexually provocative” and “boarding on looking vulgar".