Ballyvarys sinad makes headlines with a top utv news job

A TALENTED Mayo born journalist has been recruited by fledgling station UTV Ireland for its news and current affairs department.

Sinéad O’Donnell from Ballyvary, Castlebar, will be reporting for the Ireland Live and Ireland Live at 10 programmes, writes Tom Shiel

The new station launched successfully on January 1 with veteran broadcaster Pat Kenny fronting a flagship programme, Out with Old – In with the U. Sinéad is a long-standing colleague of Mr. Kenny’s having worked with him on Newstalk in recent years. In fact, the former RTÉ man has been hugely supportive of the Mayo reporter in her career so far.

“Pat has been really good and supportive to me in every way possible,” Sinéad told The Connaught Telegraph at the weekend. “He’s been a father figure towards me and extended lots of good advice.”

Sinéad, a daughter of Mary and the late P.J. O’Donnell, is already quite a well-known figure in Irish journalism through her work with TV3, Newstalk, iRadio and Sligo-based Ocean FM. She gained valuable TV experience in recent years through working for TV3.

Reporting cannot be said to be in Sinéad’s blood, however – her beloved dad, P.J., was a gifted mechanic while her mum is a retired psychiatric nurse. Her only sibling, Damian, is not involved in the media business.

Sinéad confesses to being ‘very excited’ about her new job but was so busy in recent months preparing for the January 1 launch date she ‘did not have time to think about it’.

If there’s one thing she regrets about this week’s launch of UTV’s news and current affairs programmes it is that her dad isn’t around to enjoy her biggest career breakthrough to date. P.J., a respected garage owner, passed away in 2001 after a 28-year battle with multiple sclerosis while his only daughter was still a student.