Bird departing to spread his wings

Without any fanfare, one of the country’s best-known journalists bowed out from his on-air career with RTÉ after almost 40 years with the station.

Charlie Bird admitted that acting as stand-in presenter on yesterday’s Marian Finucane Show on Radio One was likely to have been his final broadcast for RTÉ, where he has worked for the past 38 years.

However, the reporter made no reference to his impending retirement during the programme. “I’d get hung by the tabloids if I had,” joked the owner of one of Ireland’s most recognisable voices yesterday.