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PRESENTER DOIREANN GARRIHY said she was not aware of the exodus of radio hosts from 2FM last year, when a number of high-profile broadcasters left the station following rule changes to secondary income streams for hosts, was going to happen.
In an interview on The Late Late show this evening, Garrihy said she had not spoken to her fellow hosts at 2FM before notifying station bosses of her decision to depart from the station.
The exodus was kicked off last year when Garrihy announced that she was leaving her breakfast show after five years at the station. This was shortly followed by The 2 Johnnies, who announced they too would be finishing up at the station.
Fellow presenter Jennifer Zamparelli dropped another bombshell when she announced her departure shortly after, marking an end to over 10 years at the station.
Though it has since been announced that Garrihy will be returning to the Drivetime slot at the station, she told Patrick Kielty that her decision to leave last year was based on a number of reasons, including time for her wedding and to focus on her two podcast series.
“I never could have anticipated how much I would miss it,” she said, adding it was a “strange time” in 2FM and was not surprised by the reaction of her decision.
The trio of departures sparked much speculation about what might be happening at the station as RTÉ had been rocked by high-profile departures, as well as governance and financial scandals at the time.
Shortly before the exodus, an “external activities” register was introduced at RTÉ under new management that required workers to identify any conflicts of interests they might have that may, or may not, have been seen as a conflict with the national broadcaster’s interests.
An example given at the time was a journalist presenting a programme being produced outside of RTÉ studios. Reports at the time suggested that there had been some disagreement between management and hosts over the decision.
Bosses later insisted the 2FM departures were for a multitude of reasons.
Speaking about the reaction to her departure this evening, Garrihy said: “It was a weird time, so I wasn’t surprised. It was a strange time, I had not spoken to the others, so I didn’t know they were going to leave.”
Garrihy is set to return to host the Drivetime programme, without co-hosts, on Monday. She said this evening that she looks forward to her restart at the station.
Kielty also questioned the presenter about a social media post in 2022, which included a brand promotion for Flahavan’s porridge, which sparked controversy after images for the sponsored content were taken inside RTÉ radio studios without permission.
Garrihy apologised for the post this evening, revealing that she had been reprimanded for the action at the time by management and had recognised that it was a mistake.
“That wasn’t a pleasant time. I made a mistake. Obviously, I had a responsibility while working at the national broadcaster, I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.
“You live and learn,” she added.
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What extra Cork to Dublin flights ????.as we’ve no scheduled flights to there as it is !!!
@John O’Driscoll: He hasn’t a clue really. Populist request…… Extra trains and buses are all that’s needed. At least they will leave you close to Croke Park
WOW, he really has his hand on the pulse of what is happening in Cork
It’s 2 hours up the motorway…
@Richard K: hmmm… it’s 2 hours from Naas my guy. Welcome to the city.
@Richard K: 2 hours driving from some parts of West Cork and you are still In the county of Cork.
Has Tommy lost the plot?? He was complaining a few weeks ago about the price of match tickets. There haven’t been Cork to Dublin flights for years!!
I think Thomas will get a telling off from mary lou over this one…a bit like the helicopter to the Galway races
Jaysus, All Irelands for over a hundred years, the same distance, similar ground capacities and now you want to fly to Dublin. Travel like you always did or stay at home and moan that you wasted your ticket because you couldn’t get a flight. Proper fan indeed. Up Cork, Up Clare.
Actually, drive up to Shannon, lol.
There was another Cork TD or Senator on last week, wanting the motorway tolls to be eliminated next Sunday…Jesu* wept !!
@John Manahan: Actually a good suggestion to help traffic flow. Especially with both counties traffic on the same road for part of the way. Would only have to leave them open for a couple of hours in the evening. Operators aren’t dependent on those kind of bonanzas.
Just after the local elections, sinn fein said that they need to listen to the people more…
Should a party not exist because of certain principles and ideas that makes up its ethos, and people vote on which party best represents their thoughts, rather than each party bending and twisting trying to muster votes from each side.
Fianna fail and fine gael are no better..
We end up with parties that don’t really stand for anything, left or right leaning
What an extremely sad man he is.
Welcome to another climate change denier. God be with the good auld days when they’d set off walking on Wednesday to be there for the match. Notions, that’s what it is, flights how are ye!
Flights from cork to dublin? La de da. Nothing wrong with the aircoach.
The Coveney posse shud be able to fit a few of the loyal in down the back
If O’Leary was any good he would sort out a few flights for it.
@Padraig: If the GAA were any good they’d give the 2 participating counties a bigger share of the tickets.
@Padraig: It ain’t his job Pádraig!
Sorry!!
Far more important things for a TD to be doing me thinks
It’s great to see people who haven’t been to games all year can fly back after securing a ticket
Lots of places to go in ireland if you want to see people fighting with sticks.
He’s right about going to Croke Park. Men actually walked to the match along the railway tracks. One man would cycle 30- 40 miles in limerick to play in in a match. The country was impoverished for many years after the founding of the state. People emigrated never to return. It’s seeing the past through rose tinted glasses. My family would get parcels from America. Swiss family Robinson was an amazing book I read in the 1950s. Another version of the wild geese after WWll it was. We had no political leaders until people like lemass took up the reins. Everything changed then. Sport was an incredibly unifying force. I met a Canadian sports commentator in Portugal once. He said “don’t tell me, don’t tell me “. I was just after flying from Dublin where I saw the hurling final.
Maybe rail line from the airport aswell.
No climate worries for that weekend put on 10 extra flights another waster
have your say