Latest news with #JoeDuffy
Extra.ie
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
Inside Joe Duffy's family life with wife June and triplets
On June 27, Joe Duffy will hang up the mic after 27 years as host of Liveline, and 37 years with RTÉ. The veteran broadcaster has been listening to how 'it's a disgraaaace Joe' for decades, from problems ranging from the mundane to the incredibly serious. His final show will air on June 27. But while most of us know him as the man to talk to on 0818 715 815, there's more to Joe than some would know. Joe Duffy announced his retirement on Thursday, with his final broadcast to take place on June 27. Pic: RTÉ Raised in Ballyfermot, Joe became one of the first people from his area to attend Trinity College. He became heavily involved in the political life at Trinity, eventually ascending to the Presidency of the Union of Students in Ireland (USI). He was heavily involved in protests by the union highlighting access to education, and incredibly, spent two weeks in Mountjoy as a result. Yep, Joe did time in the Joy. After cutting his teeth as a producer and reporter on the Gay Byrne Show, Joe presented Liveline for over two and a half decades (the beard kinda suits him, doesn't it?) Pic: RTÉ Joe joined the national broadcaster as a radio producer, becoming more prominent as a reporter on The Gay Byrne Show in the 1990s — winning a Jacob's Award in 1992. From there, he presented other programmes such as Soundbyte before he took over as host of Liveline in 1998. In 2013, he was inducted into the PPI Hall of Fame and won various IMRO Awards, and has also hosted various television programmes — including Liveline Callback and The Meaning of Life, which he took over from Gay Byrne. Joe and his wife June, welcomed triplets Ronan, Sean and Ellen into the world in 1995. Pic: Collins While attending Trinity College, Joe met June Meehan — with the couple marrying and going on to have triplets in 1995. Yep. Joe said that he didn't realise they were having such an amount of children until a few weeks before their births, telling RSVP: 'I had three children at the same time back in 1995, I had three children, about 15 different theories about parenting. Joe Duffy with his wife June. Pic: VIP Ireland 'I was a qualified family therapist and social worker, that is what I did in university. [But] you make it up as you go along, you can't play god, and you make it up as you go along. You also realise that even though they were completely disinterested at the time, they remember the places you brought them and the stories you told them over the years.' It will be the end of an era this June when Joe presents his final episode of Liveline. Pic: RTE On Thursday, May 8, Joe announced that he was leaving Liveline, with his final show to air on June 27. 'After 37 wonderful years here in RTÉ, and 27 years presenting Liveline, it has been an incredible honour and privilege to be part of a programme that relied entirely on trust: the trust of our listeners,' Joe said. 'People felt they could pick up the phone, ring Liveline, and share their lives, problems, stories sad, bad, sometimes mad and funny, their struggles, and their victories. I never took that for granted, not for a single minute. Joe Duffy during the Liveline Christmas special in 2001. Pic: RTÉ 'RTÉ has been a great place to work. Public service has always been at its heart. And now, after many happy years, I've decided the time has come to move on. I would like to thank you the listener for tuning in each and every day, it has been an honour to sit in this seat and hear your stories.' Kevin Bakhurst, RTÉ Director General, paid tribute to Joe following his announcement, saying 'Whether breaking stories like the first powerful moments of the 9-11 attacks in the US, or helping the nation navigate the often heart-breaking challenges of a global pandemic, Joe Duffy's Liveline doesn't just have its fingers on the pulse, it is the pulse of the nation. 'Joe navigated controversies, unearthed scandals, exposed scams, fought misinformation and shone a light on topics long ignored, from historical abuse to the menopause and healthcare reform. Joe was always the guide, never the story. His journalistic insights were perfectly in balance with his human instincts, and Liveline under Joe became both a sanctuary for those seeking justice, and a public square of which Joe was in full control.'
Irish Daily Mirror
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Daily Mirror
Lucy Kennedy responds to rumours she will be the next host of RTE's Liveline
TV star Lucy Kennedy has broken her silence about being tipped as the next host of Liveline – saying she is 'happy' where she is. The Living With Lucy presenter was tipped to return to RTÉ for the first time since 2012 as a replacement for Joe Duffy on the RTÉ Radio 1 show, according to Ladbrokes. Odds slashed from 8/1 to 3/1 for Lucy Kennedy to switch allegiances from Classic Hits to RTÉ Radio One and take up the iconic Liveline slot. Cal Gildart of Ladbrokes said: 'From Living with Lucy to Liveline with Lucy, odds have been slashed on the Classic Hits presenter to move from the mornings to the mid-afternoon and try to fill Joe's shoes on Liveline.' But Lucy dismissed the bookies odds, saying she is happy where she is. Speaking exclusively to the Irish Mirror, she said: 'I'm happy where I am for now, doing the breakfast show on Ireland's Classic Hits with naughty Colm (Hayes).' The popular presenter previously hosted a morning radio show alongside Baz Ashmawy on the RTÉ airwaves from 2010 to 2012 before leaving the station. Last year, she admitted 2FM bosses did ask the Dubliner if she would consider returning to the station amid a host of presenters leaving. 'I was asked if I'd like to put my hat in, and I said no,' says Lucy, who can now be heard on Ireland's Classic Hits Radio on weekday mornings with Colm Hayes. 'Myself and Baz did Weekend Breakfast there for three years, and we loved it, I really enjoyed it. 'But I'm very happy at Classic Hits — the station has been good to me and I also believe that we've got the perfect audience now,' she said at the time. Since Joe Duffy's decision to leave the staple phone-in show, rumours have been rife about who may take over the Dubliner's spot. RTÉ Today host Daithi O Se, Katie Hannon, Miriam O'Callaghan and Jennifer Zamparelli have also been tipped to go into talks with RTÉ bosses.
Irish Daily Mirror
25-05-2025
- Politics
- Irish Daily Mirror
'We haven't come so far as a country, Joe. In fact we've gone backwards'
I was surprised to hear Joe Duffy cheer Ireland's social progress on the Late Late Show, saying: 'We've come so far as a country.' The legendary broadcaster was chatting last week to Patrick Kielty to mark his retirement after 27 years of listening to the nation on Liveline. The Ballyfermot man is one of our most down-to-earth public figures, and I'm a big fan. But I'd have thought he'd be highly aware of the realities of life in Ireland today, specifically the social ill of housing that's destroying families. Instead, Duffy's takeaway was how - less than a century ago - we were yet to abolish the workhouse, and therefore we'd advanced as a species. 'We have come so far and I think that's absolutely brilliant,' he said. 'We should acknowledge it without losing the context of the housing crisis and all that carry on.' It's a pretty low bar if you're using Dickensian workhouses as a starting point. The only way is up, from there. But I don't think by any standard we can look around at how ordinary, hard-working people can't afford to rent or buy; or witness kids queueing up at soup kitchens; or know families are living in one room, and pat ourselves on the back. We can't take record homeless figures of 15,000, including nearly 5,000 children, and conclude we've done a good job. In fact, about 100 years ago, a golden age of housing was about to start. Ireland moved from the 1920s of cramped tenements, collapsing houses and the worst slums outside of Calcutta, to large scale construction of social housing. Most of the houses built from the 1930s up to the 1970s were council houses. At one stage, it was as high a 55% of all housing output. To put that in perspective, that figure is 5.5% this past decade. As many as one-fifth of people were accommodated in social housing during that time. I was one of them. I grew up in a council house built in the 1970s. Shamefully, I used to be slightly self-conscious about this. Now I think I was lucky to grow up in a time and place where people could raise families, without need for two incomes, in a decent home. Wealthier friends of mine lived in big detached houses and that suited them. But we were just as happy in our Rockypool estate. Then, over time, there was a deliberate shift away from social housing, with it effectively ceasing after the economic crash. The Government outsourced it into the private market, killing two birds with one stone, so they thought. Landlords were happy, state was happy - with the landlords paying nearly half the rent income back to the taxman, it benefitted both to let rents get higher. But it predictably backfired. Ultimately, it's this flip from social housing as state investment to social housing as private profit that created a housing crisis that's been going on for 11 years. There's this received narrative that housing problems are a constant, that this is just the latest phase of an ongoing issue. They're not: they were caused by government policy that could not have been more guaranteed to cause a crisis if someone sat down and designed them specifically for that purpose. Just one example of this is how our leaders let rents go as high as they could go before bringing in basic rights for tenants in a crisis, such as rent caps and protection from being turfed out your own home in a matter of weeks. Finance Minister Michael Noonan said it in the Dail in 2014: "We need rents to go a little bit higher." Another is how they responded to spiralling rents by boosting the Housing Assistance Payment (HAP), paying more money into landlords' pockets, instead of limiting what they could squeeze out of renters. They refused for years to bring in a rent cap. Then Taoiseach Leo Varadkar confirmed in 2021 it was a profit-driven business, saying: "One person's rent is another person's income." So don't buy into the political handwringing about it, and the headlines about state 'solutions' to a crisis it has engineered and maintained. The housing crisis is now an established housing system, and the reason it hasn't been 'solved' is because it suits too many people. In my view, it's comparable to why America does not have a functioning healthcare system and instead lets the citizen shoulder the financial burden. I don't believe we've come so far as a country. Instead, we've gone backwards.
Irish Independent
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
VIP Style Awards in photos: Kathryn Thomas, Rosanna Davison, Jennifer Zamparelli and more Irish celebs walk the red carpet
The red carpet was rolled out at the Dublin 4 hotel for the fashion awards run by the Irish publishing group, now in their 22nd year. No expense was spared as some of our best-known celebrities turned on the style with high hopes of walking home with one of the coveted accolades. The Ballsbridge hotel was a sea of colour from 6pm onwards with some truly unique creations on display. Attendees included TV presenter Kathryn Thomas, who has been working with Q102 on her new breakfast show. She was delighted to get another wear out of her stunning Helen Cody wedding dress, having gotten hitched in 2019 at Kilkea Castle to Padraig McLoughlin. "This is my wedding dress. This was my evening number after the ceremony. She's my favourite designer and I looked at in the cupboard a week ago and went, 'The hook and the tie at the back is fastened but who cares?' "She lent me the shoes too and I borrowed the clutch off my neighbour." Recently linked with stepping into Joe Duffy's shoes on RTÉ Radio 1, she said she's been busy on Q102 with "my own radio show." "I'm flattered and honoured. Joe is a gentleman. The first person to send me a 'good luck' card on my desk at Q102 was Joe Duffy. He wished me the best of luck, said he was delighted for me and sent me a text a few weeks later saying, 'You're sounding great.' He is the consummate pro. So when I hear people say, 'Who's going to step into Joe's shoes?' Nobody can step into Joe's shoes." Other attendees included Rosanna Davison, Jennifer Zamparelli, Arthur Gourounlian, Elaine Crowley, Holly Carpenter alongside Lottie, Bonnie and Babette Ryan with mum Morah. Also spotted was Blathnaid Treacy, who was sporting a tiny baby bump as she looked forward to welcoming her second baby with husband Charlie Moone. The evening was hosted by 2fm presenter Laura Fox as some 350 attendees enjoyed a Moët champagne reception before a sit-down dinner. Tens of thousands of votes were cast by members of the public after the nominees were revealed by VIP magazine last month. Some ten style awards were given out on the night, including Ireland's Most Stylish Woman and Favourite Irish Designer. There was also an accolade for 'Best Dressed on the Night', which was only decided at the event itself. This year also had an international element, given that streaming service Hayu sponsored the Most Stylish Man category for the first time.
RTÉ News
23-05-2025
- Entertainment
- RTÉ News
Dublin bar makes list of 10 best cocktail menus in the world
Dublin's Bar 1661 has been included in a list of the top 10 cocktail menus in the world, curated by the 2025 Spirited Awards. Now in its 19th year, the Spirited Awards highlight exceptional creations and creators across the global bar industry, including individuals, establishments, products, media, and leaders who continue to inspire the global cocktail community. The Northside spot, which opened in 2019 and has since garnered praise for its inventive cocktails, won for its 'We Call This Power', a 28-drink celebration of Irish poitín, Irish drinks, and Irish producers. It gets its name from the year poitín was banned in Ireland, and has been fighting the good fight in the name of the traditional Irish spirit for years since. Located on Green St, Rotunda, the menu is presented to guests in a sleek and polished white-covered menu book, with short descriptions of the cocktails, stylish photographs, key tasting notes and some homages to local community heroes such as Joe Duffy of Duffy's Flowers, to whom the non-alcoholic creation Full Bloom is dedicated. Standouts from the selection include the Belfast Coffee, made with Bán poitín, cold brew coffee, cream, demerara and nutmeg, Parts Unknown, made with Bán poitín, Don Julio tequila, grapefruit, pineapple, mulberry, lime and chilli, and Round Towers, made with Glendalough gin, Micil poitín, aquavit, kiwi, lemon sherbet and celery. The team have also devised a specialised, small-group 28-course liquid tasting menu, which sees just 10 guests sitting around a shared table, enjoying mini versions of the cocktails and nibbles. Speaking about the honour, BAR 1661 owner Dave Mulligan said: "We are humbled to say the least. 'We Call This Power' is our statement of intent as a bar, and to see it recognised at this level makes us incredibly proud. This achievement is a huge team effort from all our staff, and a testament to the fantastic work from our design partners Studio FDDP and Photographer Al Higgins. Here's to the spirit of Irish hospitality, bold, rooted, and unapologetically our own." The win comes at a particularly buoyant time for the team as they were named Innovator of the Year at this year's Irish Restaurant Awards on Monday, 19 May. On top of that, the team recently unveiled Bar 1661's sister bar, The Sackville, which they say is on a mission to bring a touch of glamour back to O'Connell Street with its statement black interiors and elevated classic cocktails.
