Eileen Dunne signs off on final bulletin after 42 years in RTÉ

Newsreader Eileen Dunne has signed off on her final bulletin for RTÉ after 42 years.

Ms Dunne ends a decades-long association with the State broadcaster which she joined in 1980 as a part-time radio announcer.

The Dunne family involvement stretches back for decades before that. Her father Mick Dunne was RTÉ's first GAA reporter and commentator. He died in 2002.

She was a familiar face on the Six O’Clock and Nine O’Clock news along with providing the commentary for many significant occasions including the official State commemoration for the 1916 Rising, the State visit of Queen Elizabeth II in 2011 and the reciprocal state visit of President Michael D Higgins to the UK in 2014.

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Speaking at the Nine O’Clock news, she described RTÉ as a “wonderful organisation” and thanked her “family, the early mentors who got me here and sustained me, to my wonderful newsroom colleagues both in front of and behind the camera not to mention wardrobe and make-up.

“To you the viewers thank you for your support especially through the turbulent Covid years. It’s been a privilege.”

Ms Dunne is retiring as she reaches the age of 65 next year. Earlier this year she told RSVP magazine: “I think I am ready. I have been there for over 40 years and I feel like I have done my time. I almost left when I was 60, because I could.

“I wouldn’t have had the full package but I could have left. I am glad I didn’t though because I’m glad I worked through the pandemic. The pandemic taught me that I would be okay if I wasn’t working because I can structure my day.”