Una O'Hagan explained

Una O'Hagan
Birth Date:1962
Birth Place:Dublin, County Dublin Ireland
Nationality:Irish
Alma Mater:Dublin Institute of Technology
Credits:RTÉ News
Years Active:1983–present
Spouse:Colm Keane (until his death, 2022)
Children:1 son (deceased)

Una O'Hagan (born 1962) is an Irish author, journalist and former newsreader with RTÉ,[1] Ireland's national radio and television station. She presented the main television news programmes Six One News, Nine O'Clock News and One O'Clock News including all other news bulletins on both radio and television. For nine years, from 1996 to 2005, she co-presented the station's flagship news programme Six One News with Bryan Dobson.[2] O'Hagan presented her last news bulletin on Sunday 25 February 2018.[3]

O'Hagan was born in Dublin in 1962 and attended Dominican College, Eccles Street.[4] She studied journalism at the Dublin Institute of Technology, graduating in 1982.[5] The following year, 1983, she joined RTÉ, where she worked as a newsreader on RTÉ Radio 2.[6] In early 1986, she became a member of RTÉ's news reporting staff.[7]

In 1990, in Zambia, she met and interviewed Nelson Mandela, who had been released from captivity on Robben Island just two weeks earlier.[8] In 1992, she accompanied Ireland's first woman president, Mary Robinson, on a state visit to Australia, having already covered her election as President of Ireland (Uachtaráin na hÉireann) in 1990.[9]

She also reported on the release of Beirut hostage Brian Keenan in 1990,[10] the negotiations in Brussels for the new EU constitution in 2003,[11] and she co-presented RTÉ's coverage of the events of 9/11.[12]

As a newscaster, she hosted live programmes on the deaths of former Taoiseach Jack Lynch in 1999[13] and Garret FitzGerald in 2011, the visit of Queen Elizabeth II to Ireland in 2011,[14] and the 2012 United States presidential election.[15]

She was married to author and former RTÉ broadcaster, the late Colm Keane.[16] They lost their only son (and only child) Seán to cancer in 2007.[17] They wrote four books together: the No.1 bestseller The Little Flower, St. Thérèse of Lisieux: The Irish Connection, published in September 2018,[18] [19] and the bestselling book Animal Crackers: Irish Pet Stories, published in June 2016.[20] Their most recent co-written books were The Village of Bernadette: Lourdes, Stories, Miracles and Cures - The Irish Connection, published in September 2019,[21] and The Book of St. Brigid, published in September 2021.[22]

Notes and References

  1. News: Legendary anchor Una O'Hagan announces she's leaving RTE News . 4 February 2018 . . Niamh . Horan . 21 December 2019 .
  2. Web site: RTE's Six One newsreaders down the years - Irish Mirror Online.
  3. Web site: Radio 1 Highlights. RTÉ.ie.
  4. Web site: Dominican College PPU. www.dominicancollegeppu.ie.
  5. RTÉ Guide, Power's Court, 22 July 2005, pg 17
  6. Ireland on Sunday, 60 second interview, 15 December 2003, pg 34
  7. Web site: Stolen Beit Paintings Unveiled at National Gallery. RTÉ.ie.
  8. Web site: Nelson Mandela...RTÉ Visit in 1992... www.superannrte.ie.
  9. Web site: dead . 2015-11-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151117041115/http://irishpost.co.uk/twenty-five-facts-about-irelands-first-female-president-mary-robinson/ . Twenty five facts about Ireland's first female President Mary Robinson . November 9, 2015 . Katy . Harrington . . Irish Post.
  10. Web site: Brian Keenan Press Conference. RTÉ.ie.
  11. Web site: . No sign of breakthrough at EU summit. 12 December 2003.
  12. Web site: dead . 2015-11-17 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151117040446/http://www.europeana.eu/portal/record/09212/EUS_B55E9E9458CE4B599E5FB35D2572AEEC.html . President Gives Her Reaction to 9/11 Attacks . . Wayback Machine.
  13. Web site: Former Taoiseach, Jack Lynch, dies aged 82. . 20 October 1999.
  14. Web site: Ireland's loss is TV3's gain as RTE arrives late. Independent.ie.
  15. Web site: TV guide: the US Presidential Election on the box . Sinead. O'Carroll. TheJournal.ie.
  16. Web site: COLM KEANE - bestselling author on saints and near-death experience. Colm Keane.
  17. Web site: RTE's Una 'still can't speak of son's death'. Independent.ie.
  18. Web site: Irish Bestsellers 29th September 2018. 5 October 2018.
  19. Web site: The Little Flower, St Therese of Lisieux: The Irish Connection Colm Keane.
  20. Web site: Colm Keane - Animal Crackers Irish Pet Stories.
  21. Web site: A Day with Colm Keane & Una O'Hagan . 26 September 2019.
  22. Web site: Deirdre . Falvey . The original feminist role model: Bringing Brigid out of St Patrick's shadow. The Irish Times.