BIOGRAPHY – MIRIAM O’CALLAGHAN

MIRIAM O’CALLAGHAN presents RTÉ’s flagship current affairs television programme Prime Time.

Before joining RTÉ, Miriam worked for ten years in British television, seven of those as a reporter for BBC 2’s Newsnight programme.

Miriam O’Callaghan was born and raised in Dublin.  Her father Jerry O’Callaghan, a civil servant, was brought up on a small farm in Co. Kerry and much of Miriam’s childhood was spent in Kerry.  Her mother, also called Miriam O’Callaghan,  is from Co. Laois and is a retired schoolteacher.  Educated at St. Brigid’s Girls National School in Cornelscourt, Dublin and Mount St. Anne’s Secondary School in Milltown, Miriam went to University College Dublin at the age of sixteen and studied Law, becoming a solicitor at the age of twenty.

After practising as a solicitor for two years, Miriam emigrated to London where she chose to change careers and entered the world of television journalism.  Her first television job was a researcher for Eamon Andrews’ This Is Your Life programme. After working there for two years, she then went to the Current Affairs department, where she worked first as a researcher and then as a reporter on Reporting London.

Miriam joined the BBC as a producer on the Kilroy programme.  She remained there for two seasons when she transferred to youth programmes and presented a series called Extra, a programme set in and around Europe.  In 1987 she joined the BBC2 programme Newsnight as a reporter. During her time on Newsnight, as well as being the main reporter on Northern Ireland for six years, she was responsible for investigating a number of miscarriages of justice, including the case of the UDR Four, The Taylor Sisters and the case of Kiranjit Ahluwalia.

Miriam always intended to raise her family in Ireland and was delighted to join RTÉ in 1992, first as a presenter on the financial programme Marketplace and then with Prime Time. Miriam presented the 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games which were held in Croke Park in June. In November 2003, Miriam won the public vote for Best TV Personality at the Irish Film and Television Awards.

Miriam, senior presenter with Prime Time, has interviewed Bob Geldof, Hilary Clinton and Bono, as well as the leaders of the two main political parties prior to the last General Election and the last Presidential debate between the five candidates.

O’Callaghan has presented a six-week chat show on RTÉ One. “Saturday Night With Miriam” which proved to be a great success and has run for the last three years.