I thought I'd ingrown hair & tried to cover it with makeup but was shocked by what docs told me, says RTE's Daithi O Se
The
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Daithi shared details of his frightening cancer scare
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The RTE host said he was 'absolutely delighted' with his hair transplant
Credit: Instagram
Speaking while on holiday in Corfu, the dad-of-one told The Irish Sun: 'Three years ago I had a bit of a fright. I had a small lump in my eyebrow.
'I thought it was just an ingrown hair or something and I said, 'What the heck is this now?' It wasn't going away.
'So I went to the doctor and the doctor really got it checked out.
'They removed it and they found out it was
'But I had three inside stitches and five on the outside.
'So even though there was a tiny bit on top, they had to cut into the muscle just above my eyebrow, just to make sure they got it all.'
The popular broadcaster said it's easy to see how something so small could easily be missed.
He continued: 'It was very very similar to an ingrown hair. I've never had one of them.
'And the fact that I was putting on makeup and taking off makeup every day at work, I just thought it wasn't going away because I kept agitating it.'
RTE star says he's 'absolutely delighted' as he shares update on hair transplant operation
Daithi says the health scare was a result of 'not wearing sun cream properly throughout the years'.
The
He said: 'I wear sun cream when it's cloudy, when it's windy, when it's even the middle of winter. A factor 50 for me all day long.
'I put it on in the morning. I put it on in the evening as well during the winter.
'Say if I was out walking during the day I'd put it on every two hours as well. I just need to stay protected.'
Daithi, who
While he's 'absolutely delighted' with the results of the transplant, he's not considering any other cosmetic boosts for the moment.
And having graced our screens for years, Daithi admitted he cannot choose one favourite TV gig.
He keeps a busy schedule - presenting RTE's popular afternoon chat show Today alongside Maura Derrane and Sinead Kennedy, as well as his regular Rose of Tralee gig and other RTE programming.
He said: 'On
'I get to present the Fleadh Cheoil programme as well on RTE. That's me back to my own roots of music and singing songs and having the craic.'
'YOU NEVER KNOW'
But the 49-year-old is not ruling out running for president - on a couple of conditions.
He joked: 'I'm a bit young at the moment, apparently, I'm not 50 yet so you never know.
'I'd have to find out if people would vote for me first. I'd have to put the word out there to see if people would vote for me and if they did, then I might think about it.'
For now, Daithi is looking forward to 'hanging at home' after his Corfu trip.
He said: 'I'm looking forward to Kerry winning the All-Ireland. And I'm looking forward to having a break.
'And then getting stuck into the Rose of Tralee and then the Fleadh Cheoil.'
The Rose of Tralee host said the world-renowned festival is constantly changing with the times.
He said: 'Over 10 years ago, we had a Rose of Tralee who happened to be gay.
'It is open to everyone. It's an open door for the Rose of Tralee.
'You can be married and be in the Rose of Tralee. You can have children and be in the Rose of Tralee. That wasn't always the case.
'I think the Rose of Tralee is changing with the times and it has always done so.
'It's a place that welcomes everybody. It's a place with arms open.
'Even trans people, they're welcome to come. We haven't had one yet. Will this be the year? I don't know.'
'MORE INCLUSIVE'
The Kerry native told how organisers 'want to be more inclusive' with expanding the age range for contestants and broadening the eligibility criteria.
He continued: 'I suppose I always said that the Rose of Tralee was just like that yardstick or it was a kind of a measure of what young Irish women are at that point in time.
'For example, if you spoke to somebody from the 70s, when they were talking about jobs and careers, you might have come across a lot of teachers, a lot of nurses, and a lot of what would have been.
"I suppose, people would have perceived at that time as female-skewed jobs.
'In 2025, you're going to be having doctors, engineers, physiotherapists. So even that side has changed as well.
'You'll be meeting a bunch who have travelled a lot more than the people did back in the 70s and 80s.'
Daithi insisted he sees a change in contestants from when they first sign up to the crowning night.
He said: 'There's 32 roses down there. From the first day I meet them and then to get to see the person that comes out on stage and to see how much even they've developed into that role over the few weeks that they're involved in the festival...
'That always gives me a great amount of cheer and happiness just to see them do well on stage.'
SKIN CANCER STATS
HEALTH chiefs say that about 11,000 people are diagnosed with skin cancer each year.
And it is the most common cancer in Ireland.
However, a recent report published by the National Cancer Registry Ireland shows that the survival rate for most cases is nearly 100 per cent.
It says that about 9 out of 10 cases are non-
Men are more likely to die from skin cancer than women, and about 270 people die from skin cancer each year in Ireland.
Director of the National Cancer Registry, Prof. Deirdre Murray, said: "Understanding the trends in skin cancer is vital for public health awareness and prevention strategies.
"Many of these cancers could be prevented with wider adoption of safe sun practices in our population and avoidance of sunbeds."
Skin cancer is more common in people over 50 but you can get melanoma skin cancer at any age.
'SCIENCE IS THERE'
Daithi has teamed up with
He said: 'The science is there. Lidl have a survey that 23 per cent of people rarely or never put on sunscreen.
'When I read it, I just kind of said, 'Oh my God, this is crazy'.'
For Daithi, another plus for wearing sun cream, as well as being protected, is it is a 'holiday smell'.
He chuckled: 'Even though you might be in Galway, Kerry, Dublin or Donegal or anything, once you put on this you feel like you are away.'
Daithi added: 'I think we're great at putting on sun cream on our kids, but a huge amount of us forget to put it on ourselves as well at the same time. So I think we really need to think that one.'
Lidl's Cien sun cream range is available in all Lidl stores nationwide now, with prices starting from just €1.99.
FOR more information or to see the latest instore promotions please visit
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Daithi joined Polly Comaskey, 6, and Ruby Harris Pope, 7, to launch new Lidl sun safety research
Credit: Andres Poveda
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Daithi said the Rose of Tralee Festival is changing with the times
Credit: Julien Behal/PA Wire
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Cathal Friel: 'If the trials are successful, Poolbeg will likely be bought out like Amryt. It could do really, really well.' Photograph: Alan Betson 'We met most of the 40 biggest North American biotech investors on that roadshow. Everyone was saying, 'Why are you getting involved with Hookipa? Focus on 001.' It has the potential to transform cancer treatment'.' Poolbeg subsequently raised £4.7 million (€5.6 million) in an equity raise, mainly to get 001 ready for a key clinical trial – known as a Phase 2a trial – later this year to see if it can prevent cytokine release syndrome (CRS), a dangerous immune response triggered by certain cancer immunotherapies. 'We all became familiar with this syndrome during Covid-19, when cytokine storms caused immune systems to overreact and start attacking the body,' says Friel. The stock market is yet to get excited, with Poolbeg shares off about 25 per cent so far this year. But Friel – a glass-half-full guy by nature – is hopeful. 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Friel says he made 'sub €10 million' from Amryt – a fraction what co-founder and chief executive Joe Wiley secured for his stock-options-driven interest. The pay-day is broadly in line, he says, with what he made from Hvivo by the time he sold his last shares in that business a year ago. 'It's not money the motivates me. I get much more fun out of putting vehicles together and doing deals and creating something,' Friel insists. 'Creating too much wealth creates a problem as to how to pass on. I believe it's important not to hand too much easy money to the next generation. Working keeps all of us sane and not having to work can destroy lives.' Tough start The start Friel got would have broken many others. While his entrepreneurial father built up a petrol station in Creeslough, in north Donegal [ an explosion at that station , which the Friel family sold out of decades ago, killed 10 people in 2022], a Ford dealership franchise for half the county and Irish cottage rental business during the 1970s, they were badly hit when interest rates spiked to almost 17 per cent in 1981 amid a surge in inflation. Friel, the seventh of 10 children, had to leave school at 16 to run indebted businesses when his father became ill. It left him with a lifelong aversion to debt and property investment. 'I was in the wrong place at the wrong time in the family. The older kids were at university and the younger ones were behind me in school,' he says. 'I spent years dealing with the bank trying to pay down debt and get rid of things.' He started doing night classes in computer programming with the regional technical college in Letterkenny, followed up by studying in his 20s for a degree and then a master's in business administration at Ulster University. Friel was subsequently asked by the university to become a part-time lecturer of international marketing and business policy, which he did between 1990 and 1995. After selling off the family business in 1996, he took off backpacking for a year, during which he turned 32, to travel southeast Asia. This was funded in part by taking some money off the table as early small investor in insulation group Kingspan, which had floated in 1989. Returning to Ireland on Good Friday 1998 – the date of the Belfast Agreement – Friel started sending out CVs. Following close to 50 interviews that summer, he was finally hired by businessman Jim Maher, founder of financial software company, Allfinanz. Friel worked for nothing for the first three months to get a foot in the door. A year later, he was Maher's deputy chief executive. Allfinanz would ultimately end up being acquired by German reinsurer Munich Re in 2007 for €48 million, long after Friel had departed. Media deals Following a stint working for a venture capital fund set up by Sean Melly, the late telecoms executive, Friel joined Merrion Capital's corporate finance unit in early 2001. 'It was another complete career reinvention and required a lot of fast learning,' he says. He developed a niche in the media sector, selling local newspaper companies and radio stations. He advised on the likes of the €34 million sale of the Meath Chronicle in 2002 and UK media group Emap's €200 million disposal of Today FM, FM104 and Donegal's Highland Radio to Denis O'Brien's Communicorp in 2007. Cathal Friel: 'I'm convinced that, just like with the arrival of the motorcar and the PC revolution, AI will create far more jobs than it eliminates.' Photograph: Alan Betson He also worked with Scottish media group Johnston Press when it acquired Leinster Leader and Local Press groups for a combined €236 million. Friel says, however, that he recommended Johnston Press, which was on an acquisitions spree at the time, not do the deal, because of the mad price. 'But hats off to anyone that sold a radio station or regional newspaper at that time – because they did really, really well,' he said. By the time the Emap deal was completed, Friel was already working part-time setting up Raglan Capital – which was initially set up to be part corporate finance boutique and part investment firm, targeting turnaround opportunities among companies listed on London's junior Alternative Investment Market (AIM). At Raglan, he advised on the sale of the Sligo Champion to Independent News & Media (INM), now Mediahuis Ireland, in 2008 for a reported €25 million. 'That was the last helicopter out of Saigon for the sector, before valuations slumped,' he recalls. The last corporate finance transaction Raglan worked on was the sale of Galway businessman Gerry Barry's financial payments business Fintrax for €170 million in 2012. By then, Raglan's focus was solely on putting together its own deals, often backed by the former owners of businesses he had sold during his Merrion days. It started off in 2012 with Fastnet Oil & Gas, an exploration venture backed by top executives at Cove Energy, John Craven and Michael Nolan, as the Mozambique-focused business was being sold to Shell for €1.2 billion. Fastnet gained an AIM quotation by reversing into a listed cash shell. The Government should double all existing housing height limits overnight in every part of the country, make it more difficult for people to object to new housing developments and ban all judicial reviews on residential planning decisions — Cathal Friel Fastnet became involved in exploration in the Celtic Sea and off the Morocco coast. However, in the wake of an oil price collapse in 2014, Friel engineered a spin-off of the exploration assets and pivoted to the pharma sector. It did this by merging in 2016 with Amryt, a company Raglan had just set up with Wiley to focus on buying and developing drug candidates for rare and orphan diseases. The deal was essentially an initial public offering (IPO) as it involved a €12.6 million stock offering. Friel backed away at that stage to allow Wiley and Amryt's chief financial officer, Rory Nealon, do their thing under chairman Ray Stafford, founder of Sudocrem. 'I always try to find really good CEOs and CFOs and not get in the way after that,' he says. Still, he remained on the board until 2017 and a shareholder until Amryt's sale in 2023 – a deal that was driven by its transformational purchase in the interim of a much larger US company, Aegerion, out of bankruptcy. Aegerion had two regulator-approved drugs generating revenues at the time. Hvivo Friel, in the meantime, orchestrated the IPO of Open Orphan, a pharma services company, in 2019 through the reverse takeover of Dublin-listed Venn Life Sciences. The company went on later that year to buy UK clinical trials business Hvivo, which was struggling at the time, and went on to rename the group Hvivo in late 2022. Hvivo's market value peaked at almost £260 million (€300 million) in early 2021, just before it spun off Poolbeg and when its business in conducting human challenge trials for treatments for infections and respiratory diseases was going gangbusters during the pandemic. Friel sold his final shares in the company a year ago. [ Ireland's Mr IPO and his plans to make more companies public Opens in new window ] While the shares moved sideways for about four months after his exit, they have subsequently fallen more than about 60 per cent amid a cyclical downturn in clinical trials. This was accelerated in May when Hvivo told investors of the cancellation of a 'significant' contract and the postponement of another. 'When you see a founder selling, it's usually a signal. There was a massive bubble in clinical trials post pandemic,' he says. 'It's still a very good company. But it's a cyclical sector.' Hvivo chief executive Yamin Khan gave an insight into working with Friel in an interview with the Business Post last month , after Friel stepped down as chairman. 'He hired me, he mentored me, [and I] really liked working with him,' he said. 'I think Cathal, he gets bored quite easily, he wants to do the next thing.' [ Hvivo revenue rose last year as company diversified services Opens in new window ] Or ponder solutions on challenges facing business and society, which he often commits to published opinion pieces. Take the Irish stock market, or Euronext Dublin, which has seen a wave of company exits and dearth of new listings over the past decade. 'It needs to be taken away from the orbit of the Department of Finance and given to the Department of Enterprise, Trade and Employment to develop ideas to reboot it. That department is in charge of two of the most successful state development bodies in the world – the IDA and Enterprise Ireland,' Friel offers. Or the housing crisis. 'The Government should double all existing housing height limits overnight in every part of the country, make it more difficult for people to object to new housing developments and ban all judicial reviews on residential planning decisions.' On artificial intelligence, he offers: 'It's here to stay. I'm convinced that, just like with the arrival of the motorcar and the PC revolution, AI will create far more jobs than it eliminates – and may even herald the arrival of formal four-day working week.' While Friel is set to turn 61 later this year, he reckons he still has 'another 10 years in me' at Raglan. 'It's good fun. I always have to be planning the next deal. There's nothing imminent, but I'd likely to continue doing one every two or three years,' he says. 'First I've got to deliver the goods with Poolbeg and EGT.' Name: Cathal Friel Position: Founder of Raglan Capital, which has been behind five AIM-listed companies Family: Married to Pamela Iyers. They have two sons, aged 17 and 15, and a 13-year-old daughter Lives: Monkstown, south Co Dublin Something about Cathal Friel that readers might expect: Every summer, he spends a few weeks in Dunfanaghy, Co Donegal, fishing, boating and generally relaxing with his children while his wife enjoys a well-earned break with family in Austria Something that might surprise: He did close to 50 failed job interviews when he returned to Ireland after a year backpacking in Asia – before landing a job working for free for three months.
