{"id":176839,"date":"2025-12-05T16:24:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:24:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/176839\/"},"modified":"2025-12-05T16:24:07","modified_gmt":"2025-12-05T16:24:07","slug":"elevation-to-six-one-slot-makes-tommy-meskill-a-big-winner-in-latest-rte-rejig-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/176839\/","title":{"rendered":"Elevation to Six One slot makes Tommy Meskill a big winner in latest RT\u00c9 rejig \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Who is Tommy Meskill, RT\u00c9\u2019s new co-presenter of the Six One news? RT\u00c9<\/a> viewers will know him as its London correspondent since the summer of 2024, and before that as the political reporter and \u201coccasional newscaster\u201d who popped up to anchor bulletins when others were on their holidays, often covering unenviable Christmas shifts.<\/p>\n

But, in proof that all news is local, to Munster-based media he is the \u201cClare man\u201d who has now been elevated to join the experienced and unflappable Sharon Tobin on RT\u00c9\u2019s flagship television bulletin. They will form a likable pair.<\/p>\n

His first appearance on an RT\u00c9 press release was in 2016, when Montrose announced that \u201c21-year-old Tommy Meskill from Co Clare\u201d would become the newest addition to the presenting team of News2Day, the television news programme for younger people that has served as a pipeline of new faces for RT\u00c9. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe was brilliant at that, as he is brilliant at everything else,\u201d the man he has now succeeded on Six One, David McCullagh<\/a>, told me recently.<\/p>\n

He also had a fan on the Irish Times letter pages. \u201cSir, \u2013 It appears that news presenter Tommy Meskill is running a one-man show in Montrose for RT\u00c9. Has he had any time off since Christmas Eve? Has he had his Christmas dinner yet?\u201d the writer wondered in December 2023.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe is doing an excellent job and keeping us up to date on what\u2019s happening in the wider world.\u201d<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 bosses obviously agree, pulling Meskill back from London for the more high-profile role, which only became available after McCullagh was tapped to become the presenter of the Today programme on Radio 1 following Claire Byrne\u2019s defection to Newstalk.<\/p>\n

In his early 30s, Meskill is one of the youngest to be promoted to this gig, but even as a student, he was ambitious, telling The Irish Times in 2015<\/a> that his generation had \u201chigher expectations\u201d of themselves and did not want to be told to follow a set path.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9 shuffles presenter roles with Sarah McInerney moving to Morning IrelandOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

\u201cMany 20-year-olds are capable of taking on senior positions. It\u2019s reverse ageism to suggest we aren\u2019t capable. People in their 20s don\u2019t have as much experience, but we\u2019re open to the idea of young people being at the top of society and politics,\u201d he said then.<\/p>\n

His appointment is one of several missing pieces on RT\u00c9\u2019s presenter line-up that have now fallen into place<\/a> following an expression-of-interest process \u2013 a step recommended to RT\u00c9 by the Government\u2019s expert advisory committee last year.<\/p>\n

\"JustinJustin McCarthy RTE <\/p>\n

To no one\u2019s surprise, Justin McCarthy has been confirmed as a permanent member of Radio 1\u2019s Morning Ireland roster, with the presenter having appeared on the show regularly in recent months. McCarthy\u2019s previous role presenting the Sunday programme This Week will now be taken on permanently by Paul Cunningham.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0RT\u00c9\u2019s Morning Ireland needs a refreshOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

One element of doubt \u2013 where Sarah McInerney would fit into the new Radio 1 schedule \u2013 has also been resolved with the announcement that she will also join the Morning Ireland line-up, alongside Gavin Jennings, Audrey Carville and McCarthy. The new presenters succeed \u00c1ine Lawlor, who stepped back from the programme, and Mary Wilson, who retired from RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n

After a five-year stint, McInerney and Cormac \u00d3 hEadhra were unexpectedly stood down as co-presenters of Radio 1\u2019s drivetime show as part of the big radio shake-up devised by RT\u00c9 director of audio Patricia Monahan in October. At the time there was no official indication of the new radio role McInerney would take up next, leaving question marks over how RT\u00c9 planned to best utilise her flair for a dogged, well-prepared interview.<\/p>\n

The obvious answer was Morning Ireland, but with that show broadcast at the opposite time of the day to McInerney\u2019s other job, on RT\u00c9 One\u2019s Prime Time, it was unclear if her schedule could work to accommodate making an impact on both. RT\u00c9 has now said she will continue to present Prime Time on a Tuesday night, while McInerney has said she \u201ccan\u2019t wait to get started\u201d on the morning show.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Looming revenue pressure for RT\u00c9 with 25% of people watching less than minute of TV weeklyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The latest appointments create internal vacancies for Meskill\u2019s London correspondent and Cunningham\u2019s political correspondent jobs. Meanwhile, a decision on who will permanently host Arena, the Radio 1 arts programme presented by Se\u00e1n Rocks until his death in July, will likely be made in 2026. Rick O\u2019Shea has been anchoring the show in the meantime.<\/p>\n

Despite the financial pressures and uncertainties faced by both RT\u00c9 and the wider Irish media sector, the attention generated by the national broadcaster\u2019s presenter and programme rejigs and reshuffles is an indicator of its enduring centrality to Irish society.<\/p>\n

This rings truer on the day of The Late Late Toy Show<\/a> \u2013 traditionally the most-watched programme on Irish television every year, by some distance \u2013 than on any other day of the year, but it remains the case on toy-free days too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Who is Tommy Meskill, RT\u00c9\u2019s new co-presenter of the Six One news? RT\u00c9 viewers will know him as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":176840,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[93,61,60,96691,23062,6085,48153],"class_list":{"0":"post-176839","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-ie","10":"tag-ireland","11":"tag-justin-mccarthy","12":"tag-late-late-toy-show","13":"tag-rte","14":"tag-sarah-mcinerney"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=176839"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/176839\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/176840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=176839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=176839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=176839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}