Eimear Ní Chonaola

Eimear Ní Chonaola ([ˈeːmʲəɾˠ nʲiː xɔˈn̪ˠiːl̪ˠə]; born 1977) is an Irish journalist and television presenter from An Spidéal, County Galway. Since 2006, Ní Chonaola has been the news anchor on Nuacht TG4, the main evening news broadcast on the Irish language channel TG4.

Early life

Eimear Ní Chonaola was born in an Síán in the Gaeltacht town of An Spidéal. A native Irish speaker, she graduated from National University of Ireland, Galway.

Journalistic career

Eimear Ní Chonaola was part of the Nuacht TG4 team from the beginning, joining the newsroom as a journalist in October 2000. In 2001, she began presenting for the first time, beginning with the shorter weekend bulletins.

She took over as main anchor from Siún Nic Gearailt on 25 September 2006.

Ní Chonaola chaired the first ever election debate in Irish on 16 February 2011, when she hosted one of the official debates of the 2011 2011 Irish general election. The high-profile debate not only brought greater exposure, but her performance as chairperson of the three-way discussion between Enda Kenny, Eamonn Gilmore and Mícheál Martin was widely credited in the national press.

Nuacht TG4

Nuacht TG4 (Irish pronunciation: [n̪ˠuəxt̪ˠ tiː dʒiː cahəɾʲ]) is a daily half-hour Irish language TV news bulletin produced by RTÉ News and Current Affairs for the Irish language Television station TG4. The programme is broadcast weekday evenings at 19:00, live from the studios of TG4 in Baile na hAbhann, County Galway. A shortened edition of the programme is broadcast on weekend evenings at around 18:45.

Format and presenters

The programme is anchored by Eimear Ní Chonaola, with Ailbhe Ó Monacháin and Eibhlín Ní Choistealbha occasionally substituting.

Nuacht TG4 also broadcasts a weekly programme called Timpeall na Tíre, which is a review of the week's top stories from Nuacht TG4.

TG4 provides an overnight international news service in the form of a simulcast of the English-language version of French public news station France 24.

Nuacht TG4 programme has an average viewership of 35-40,000.

Since September 2010, Nóiméad Nuachta (News Minute) has broadcast each week day at 13:55.

History

NUI Galway

NUI Galway (Irish OÉ Gaillimh) is a constituent university of the National University of Ireland. It is located in Ireland's westerly city of Galway. A tertiary-level educational institution, it is ranked among the top 2 per cent of universities in the world.

The university was founded in 1845 as Queen's College, Galway, and was more recently known as University College, Galway (UCG) (Irish: Coláiste na hOllscoile, Gaillimh or COG). Alumni include the incumbent Taoiseach and President of Ireland, Enda Kenny and Michael D. Higgins respectively, as well as numerous other prominent politicians. Other leading figures in Irish official life to have been educated here include Attorney General Máire Whelan and Comptroller and Auditor General Seamus McCarthy.

NUI Galway is a member of the Coimbra Group, a network of 40 long-established European universities.

History

The university opened for teaching in 1849 as Queen's College, Galway with 37 professors and 91 students. A year later it became part of the Queen's University of Ireland. The Irish Universities Act (1908) made this college a constituent college of the new National University of Ireland, and under a new charter the name of the university changed to University College, Galway. It was given special statutory responsibility under the University College, Galway Act (1929) in respect of the use of the Irish language as the working language of the college. It retained the title of University College, Galway until the Universities Act (1997) changed it to the National University of Ireland, Galway.