First woman to lead RTÉ’s news and current affairs division named Cork Person of the Month

George and son Max Duggan, Cork Crystal; Manus O’Callaghan, Cork Person of the Year awards organiser; Deirdre McCarthy, July Cork Person of the Month; Ann-Marie O’Sullivan, AM O’Sullivan PR; Louise McNamara, The Metropole Hotel; and Oonagh Buckley, Masterkabin. Picture: Vitaliy Makhanov

The first woman to lead RTÉ’s news and current affairs division has been named Cork Person of the Month for July.

Deirdre McCarthy, who was appointed to the position in December 2022, is originally from Douglas. She was educated at UCC, where she was conferred with a BA in history and economics. She also holds an MA in politics from UCD, and a postgraduate diploma in conflict and dispute resolution from Trinity.

Flagship shows including Morning Ireland, the Six One News and Prime Time are now under her remit. She forms part of the senior management team at RTÉ and sits on its executive board.

Across her three decades in RTÉ, Ms McCarthy has been a TV and radio journalist, she has been managing editor of regions and radio news programmes, as well as politics and business coverage, and she has steered the growth of radio news programmes like Morning Ireland, News at One and This Week.

She was RTÉ’s political coverage editor at Leinster House, and from 2008 to 2012, she was the editor of The Week in Politics and Leaders’ Questions.

Cork Person of the Year organisers said throughout her time at RTÉ, she has consistently demonstrated a keen understanding of the evolving media landscape and a strong commitment to journalistic integrity, and that current affairs output.

“Deirdre is an active champion of initiatives promoting media literacy and fostering informed public discourse,” they said.

“Her commitment to fair and balanced reporting has been a hallmark of her career, ensuring that diverse voices are heard and critical issues are examined with rigour and accuracy.

“This is epitomised in her work launching RTÉ’s Clarity initiative, which aims to demystify complicated issues, debunk deliberate attempts to distort reality, detail how online discourse impacts democracy, and explain exactly how RTÉ verifies its quality journalism.” 

Awards founder and organiser Manus O’Callaghan said Ms McCarthy's most recent appointment was a tremendous achievement, honour and responsibility.

“In a world where ‘fake news’ has entered the lexicon, trust in who supplies our news is all important, and RTÉ News under Deirdre’s guidance tops all the surveys which measures trust in media organisations,” he said.

Her name now goes forward for consideration alongside the other monthly winners for Cork Person of the Year which will be announced at the awards lunch next January.