Joe Duffy profile: Veteran RTÉ broadcaster gave a voice to the nation

Irish Independent

08-05-2025

By providing a platform for the voices of listeners across the country, Duffy became one of the most influential broadcasters in Ireland.
Duffy, aged 69, hosted Liveline for 27 years, during which time it became one of the most popular radio programmes in Ireland and regularly brought in more than 400,000 listeners.
Born in Mountjoy Square in 1956 to his mother Mabel and father Jimmy, Duffy and his family moved to Ballyfermot when he was a child.
Reflecting on his early life in his autobiography, Duffy wrote of his father: 'No matter how hard he tried, how hard he worked, drink diminished him.
'If drink diminished my father, it diminished the family.'
Before pursuing a career in the media, he undertook a degree in social work at Trinity College in 1977 and was one of the first people from his area to attend the university.
During his time at university, Duffy became involved in student politics and served as the president of the Trinity Students' Union before going on to be the president of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI).
While serving as USI president, Duffy was part of on-campus protests around access to education and was arrested, spending two weeks in Mountjoy Prison. Before joining the national broadcaster, he worked in the probation service.
Duffy met his wife June Meehan while at Trinity College and they share three children, triplets Ronan, Sean and Ellen, born on March 28, 1995.
Though he is best known for his time in the host's chair on Liveline, Duffy started out as a producer on RTÉ in 1989 before taking up a role as a reporter on The Gay Byrne Show.
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For his work on The Gay Byrne Show, he received a Jacob's Award in 1992, recognising outstanding contributions to Irish radio.
After presenting a number of other programmes including Soundbyte, Duffy took up the host's seat on Liveline full-time in 1998. During his time on the programme, Liveline became a national institution and the programme's slogan 'Talk to Joe' became a part of everyday Irish life – Taoiseach Micheál Martin said Duffy's show formed 'an essential part of the national conversation'.
In 1991, his brother Aidan died aged just 25 in a road accident on the Maynooth Road. Duffy was presenting on radio that day and first heard about the accident through an RTÉ news bulletin.
Reflecting on his brother's death in a 2023 interview with the Irish Independent, Duffy said: 'He was killed at noon when the front of his company van collapsed and he careered under the front of an oncoming truck in Maynooth.
'I was presenting Liveline that day and I heard about the accident on the one o'clock news. I said to somebody, 'That sounds like a horrific crash'.
"After my programme was over one of my colleagues, Noel Coughlan, told me that my brother had been killed in the accident. I had to then break the news to my mother.
"My wife, June, came over and collected me. I said to June, 'Her life will never be the same again.''
In 2008, Duffy appeared as one of the featured celebrities on the first series of Who Do You Think You Are?, an RTÉ series tracing each guest's family lineage.
In an effort to learn more about his mother's side of the family, Duffy traced back to the birth of his maternal grandmother Grace Ganley, who was born in India in 1902. Through old British military records, he learned his great grandfather Joseph Ganley served in the British Army in India.
Duffy was close to his mother Mabel, who died aged 92 in February 2022. At her funeral mass in St Matthew's Church in their native Ballyfermot, Duffy said: 'Mabel, we were blessed in your often hard life, blessed in your easy passing, and after 94 years on this earth, blessed beyond belief that you were our mother.
"So in this church, your favourite, we say goodbye today. And like so many in your generation, Mabel, you sank the well and we drank the water.'
The author of a number of books, Duffy won awards for his books Children of the Rising and Children of the Troubles on the young lives lost during the Easter Rising and during the Troubles.
His autobiography Just Joe was launched by Gay Byrne and published in October 2011.
During his time with RTÉ, he hosted other programmes including Liveline Callback and the beloved television series The Meaning of Life. He also hosted Joe Duffy's Spirit Level, a show looking at the different religions and faiths of Ireland.
The winner of a number of IMRO Awards, Duffy was inducted into the Phonographic Performance Ireland (PPI) Hall of Fame in October 2013.