As politicians wrestle with the future of RTÉ, the Oireachtas itself has become an unlikely provider of must-see TV.
There won’t be many brand partnerships for the Houses of the Oireachtas, whose annual report revealed that its Instagram following limped up from 4,103 to 5,181, or one-63rd of a Doireann Garrihy.
Nor has its app made particular waves, with an average of 165 monthly users, or roughly one-6,300,000th of a TikTok.
But when Ryan Tubridy and the RTÉ head honchos were in front of their parliamentary scrutineers, there was only one place to be: Oireachtas TV. The plucky streaming platform recorded 43 million minutes of content consumed in 2023, including a record daily haul of 8.8 million minutes on July 11th, 2023.
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Viewership of Oireachtas committees more than doubled in the year – the type of growth they’d kill for in Montrose these days.
2fm on a talent search after shedding top talent
Speaking of which, feathers were ruffled in the youth-oriented radio presentation community when RTÉ issued an open call for on-air talent at 2FM.
The pop radio station has divested itself of many of its big names in recent months, including Jennifer Zamparelli, Donncha O’Callaghan, the 2 Johnnies and the aforementioned Ms Garrihy.
Some of the departed presenters might bristle at the idea that just anyone could step into their shoes.
“If you believe you have the personality, experience and skill set to present music and entertainment programmes for younger audiences and love music, then email 2fmexpressionsofinterest@rte.ie,” the broadcaster said in a press release.
You would think some of the previous talent might feel they fit that description. Some heavyweights might be even tempted back to the fold, even if they have to sit on a shortlist which “will be created from the longlist using a weighted criteria” when a job comes up.
“If I can help in any way ...” quipped RTÉ Lyric FM’s Marty Whelan on X.-
O’Malley clan chooses its new Granuaile
Grace O’Malley is back in charge of the O’Malley clan and all is right with the world. Last weekend, a descendant of the famous pirate queen was elected clan chieftain at the annual “O’Malley rally” in Limerick.
This Grace O’Malley (34) is a special needs teacher from Rathdowney, Co Laois, who lives in north Dublin city. Clan associations are “a great way to get to know O’Malleys around the country and abroad”, she says.
“Whenever I meet an O’Malley out in the wild, I can usually trace them very quickly,” she tells The Irish Times. “Our late former chieftain Brigid O’Malley, who was a former nun based in Chicago formerly of Louisburgh, stored many branches of family trees in her head.
“She bumped into my brother Tom by chance when he was on college placement in the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago and she could reel off all his relations many generations back on the spot.” Past US presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley was another chieftain in 2022.
There are dozens of clan associations for the various surnames of Ireland, linking McHales, McLaughlins and McGillicuddys of the Reeks wherever they might be in the world to share genealogy, history and human connection. The O’Malleys’ association tends to have music, and talks about famous O’Malleys of the past such as Fianna Fáil minister Donogh and republican writer Ernie.
What does a clan chieftain do? It’s fairly similar to how it would have been for Granuaile, strangely: she’ll assemble seafarers by linking up with the Atlantic Youth Trust, which has acquired the Grace O’Malley tall ship as a youth training sailing vessel and hopes to secure Government funding for the project. She’ll be trying to get the castle on Clare Island restored.
And piracy?
“Some mild piracy, I hope!”
Car storage instead of cricket at D4 grounds
All change at rugby club Lansdowne FC’s pitches in leafy Sandymount, Dublin 4: the planning application is in to convert some of the grounds to use “for car storage purposes”. The former cricket cages will be turned over to southsiders’ sizeable vehicles for the next five years if the application is successful.
It’s not such good news for YMCA cricket club. While Lansdowne has fielded Irish rugby stars from Michael Kiernan and Eric Elwood to Devin Toner and even Felipe Contepomi, its bat-wielding erstwhile neighbour has done well for itself too.
YMCA cricket club, founded in 1890, played at Claremont Road in Sandymount from 1911 to 2023. Among its alumni are former Ireland captain Trent Johnston, who hit the winning runs against Pakistan in the World Cup in 2007, as well as current star batter Harry Tector and all-rounder Curtis Campher, who played in Ireland’s first-ever Test win against Afghanistan earlier this year.
Alarm spread when YMCA’s parent organisation sold the grounds to Lansdowne for €7 million last year, intending to use the money to “fund local community projects and initiatives in other areas of Dublin”, as The Irish Times reported at the time.
The cricketers were hopeful that an arrangement could be found to continue their tenure – but it wasn’t, and the team was forced to withdraw from the 2024 season, currently in full swing.
Still, good news about the car storage.
OPW seeking arty types to snap up pieces for its collection
Art appreciators of Ireland, your nation needs you: the Civil Service is advertising the position of art collection registrar within the Office of Public Works.
The Irish State Art Collection consists of 13,300 works dispersed across 485 locations, many of which are Government buildings. There are Ballaghs and Le Brocquys, Scullys and Stuarts, along with a not-insignificant number of busts and portraits of politicians. That calming abstract canvas you saw in the lobby on your last visit to the Department of Something or Other was probably a representative of the collection.
The red dots of the collection’s worker bees were visible recently at the NCAD graduate show, buying early and often from the works of budding artists.
Thanks to the Per Cent for Art scheme, 1 per cent of the cost of any publicly funded development is forked over to artists, either through buying or commissioning site-specific art or through sending the cash on to the national pool.
For qualified parties, the job starts at €36,000 a year – slightly less than the redevelopment of Bailieborough Garda station contributed to the coffers.
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