‘It's been such a thrill' says RTE legend as she bids farewell in emotional retirement statement after 25 years

The Irish Sun

11-06-2025

RTE legend Kay Sheehy is bidding farewell to the national station after working there for 25 years.
Kay has worked in RTE Radio 1 for a quarter of a century as a producer, presenter and reporter.
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KAY SHEEHY - RTE
Credit: RTE
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KAY SHEEHY - RTE
Credit: RTE
The radio star, who will be finishing up at the end of the week, described her time in RTE as an "exciting and often fun experience".
From political highs like Seamus Heaney winning the Nobel Prize for Literature, to global horrors such as the Bosnian wars, Kay has had "the luck to live and work in the media during interesting time".
She also had "the honour" of co-ordinating RTE's commemoration of the 1916 Rising.
Kay began working in the arts as the first Arts Officer to be appointed by a County Council in Clare and she said it was "a dream" job.
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She added: "What I loved most as my twenty-something-year-old self drove around the byways of Clare was coming up with an idea and seeing it through to completion with artists and colleagues.
"From Dial a Seanchaí (a recently rejuvenated storytelling phone-in service), and Nights in the Gardens of Clare, an oratorio for speech and music in collaboration with poet Paul Durcan and virtuoso Micheal O Súilleabháin, to themed street parades with Theatre Omnibus."
More recently, Kay has spent the last number of years working on RTE Radio 1's weeknight arts programme, Arena.
Kay said: "You get to showcase creativity and add a bit of your own live on air five nights a week.
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"It's been such a thrill, working with the Abbey Theatre on an hour-long deep dive into Conor McPhearson's The Weir on the set of the show with the writer, director and actors as our guide, doing the same with the plays of Sean O'Casey in Druid for its phenomenal celebration of his Revolutionary period plays, the Plough, Shadow and Juno."
Arena airs at 7pm each weekday but Kay has said her team "dream of having an afternoon slot" so they can showcase all art forms to a wider audience.
Joe Duffy fights back tears on air
She added her wish for the future as she leaves saying: "We also have dreams that our partners in TV will produce a sister arts show that can highlight creative endeavour on television.
"Like the Government, RTE loves to promote its commitment to culture - my hope is that the schedule on both TV and radio will reflect that through more arts programming."
Another RTE legend retiring this month is Joe Duffy.
The 69-year-old is
and leaving his hugely popular RTE Radio 1 show, Liveline, which he has helmed for over a quarter of a century.
In his 27 years in the
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And Joe shocked his listeners on air last month when he announced his retirement.
The 69-year-old said: 'After 37 wonderful years here in
"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. RTE 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.'
Joe will be on air for another two weeks before his
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