RTÉ’s Sarah McInerney: ‘I’ve learnt you don’t always have to go into interviews studs first’ | Irish Independent

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RTÉ’s Sarah McInerney: ‘I’ve learnt you don’t always have to go into interviews studs first’

Presenter on her new early starts with ‘Morning Ireland’, keeping her curly hair against the advice of others, grubby fan mail – and what Pat Kenny got wrong about her relationship with Miriam O’Callaghan

Sarah McInerney in studio at RTE Radio One. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Presenter Sarah McInerney who will begin her new role as presenter of 'Morning Ireland' next month. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Sarah counts fellow 'Prime Time' presenter Miriam O'Callaghan as a very good friend. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Sarah McInerney in studio at RTE Radio One. Photo: Gerry Mooney 

Niamh Horan

Today at 05:30 

Sarah McInerney is making big moves in her career but on this particular afternoon she’s going nowhere.

It’s a dark November Monday in rush-hour traffic and the RTÉ star is apologising profusely that she won’t make our interview — she’s just been clamped at the far side of the city.

Next month she will start on RTÉ Radio 1’s Morning Ireland, a role that is likely to see her in bed before her three children each night, so she can be up for 4am. It is one of the few jobs in the country that will allow her to beat Dublin traffic, she jokes.

It took weeks for RTÉ to make the formal announcement, but I ask when she was first approached about the job.

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“I approached them, actually,” the Galway presenter said. “At the beginning of the year I had heard there were vacancies coming up on Morning Ireland.”

After five years on Drivetime, on air from 4.30pm to 7pm each weekday, she is keen to stress she loved working on that show, but believes “when you’re not changing, you’re not learning”. 

When Claire Byrne announced her departure from RTÉ earlier this year, McInerney was tipped as the most likely successor in the mid-morning slot, amid a broader schedule reshuffle across radio and TV.

If there’s something going on, the first way I know I’m stressed is that I can’t sleep

The omens were good as she had received positive reviews from both critics and listeners when she filled in for Byrne’s predecessor, Sean O’Rourke.

McInerney was honest enough to admit back then that, given the positive reaction to her performance, she thought she would be made permanent at that time.

So when the opportunity arose again this year, did she still want Byrne’s slot?

“I was in the middle of my discussions with Morning Ireland when that came up,” she said, but she quickly realised that if she was to present that show, she would have to give up Prime Time. “Morning Ireland gives me the opportunity to do TV and radio. So, I’m having my cake and I’m eating it.” 

the two programmes by working two to three days a week on Morning Ireland to allow her to continue to co-host Prime Time alongside Miriam O’Callaghan.

She will be one of four on Morning Ireland, alongside Justin McCarthy, Audrey Carville and Gavin Jennings.

“Prime Time is late Tuesday night, so Wednesday morning on Morning Ireland wouldn’t work. So that’s Tuesdays and Wednesdays ruled out straight away.

“For the rest of the time it will be a combination of Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays or a combination of those three or two days. It all depends on the week,” she said.

Once she gets to grips with the moving roster, her biggest challenge will be sleep. She plans to get up at 4am and be on site in RTÉ at 5am.

“That will give me two hours’ prep before the show and then I finish at 9am. And as far as I understand, once you’re finished, you’re finished. So, I can expect to be home by 10am.”

Her problem is she loves to read until 2am and she can have trouble sleeping. “If there’s something going on, the first way I know I’m stressed is that I can’t sleep,” she says.

Sarah counts fellow 'Prime Time' presenter Miriam O'Callaghan as a very good friend. Photo: Gerry Mooney

Her sleep aids include magnesium tablets, the app Calm and Sleep Stories narrated by Cillian Murphy. On occasion, she allows herself “a half glass” of red wine after Prime Time to help her nod off.

Sleep challenges aside, her new role will pave the way for a far better work-life balance. “My two kids are aged seven and 11, so I’m going to be able to collect them from school and see an awful lot more of them.

“They’ll probably go to bed later than me, so we’ve had some serious conversations about how Mom is going to be in bed at this time. But I think they’re really excited because I’m going to be around more during the day.” 

McInerney has been 22 years in journalism, having worked in the Sunday Tribune, Sunday Times, Virgin Media, Newstalk, BBC and RTÉ, where she has been since 2018.

Known for her tough, forensic style of questioning, she says she has learnt more recently to tailor her approach depending on the guest.

“One of the words people would have used for me five years ago is dogged and I certainly was that and I still can be. But now I’ll adapt my approach depending on what will get the best result for the listener.”

She has come to realise “holding back gets you so much more than going in studs first”.

Pat Kenny took a shot at McInerney and O’Callaghan over the Prime Time leaders’ debate last November, saying “it was a competition of who could be the best moderator” — when it should have been focused on the speakers: then-tánaiste Micheál Martin, then-taoiseach Simon Harris and Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald. 

Pat Kenny

“They had two moderators and I think that was the big competition of the night. Who could ask the best questions, who could be the best moderator, rather than who is going to be the best leader of the country,” Kenny said at the time.

But McInerney says talk of any competition between the two presenters “couldn’t have been further from the truth” and they hugged once the cameras were off.

“I would count Miriam as a very good friend,” she said, adding that she “has taught me how to be nice”.

“When we started working together five years ago, on my first night on Prime Time, I was very nervous, and my hair was straight because a couple of people said to me in the industry over the years that straight hair is more suited to current affairs.”

She said O’Callaghan came to her rescue.

“It was a really small thing, but it was one of those little things that you don’t forget. She saw me in the midst of my jitters and had my back. I felt part of a team and our relationship has developed so much since.” 

urrent affairs?

“Different people in the industry, both men and women. Inside and outside RTÉ. But not anyone I have worked with recently.”

As well as comments on her appearance, the other downside as a female presenter is that she can often receive creepy and graphic fan mail.

“Some people form attachments and, you know, there have been one or two instances where there was one man who sent me pictures of himself and the kids. It was weird and very inappropriate.”

The sexualised messages that land in her inbox spark a more visceral reaction. “Gross! It’s just gross.”

Our attention turns to the fact that she is at the centre of a multi-million-euro legal battle between RTÉ and the Department of Social Protection in the High Court.

For years, RTÉ has treated her as an independent contractor, paying her through her company, Blackberry Hill Productions Ltd, and keeping her on a rolling contract. This avoids paying her additional PRSI, pension contributions, sick pay and maternity leave. The broadcaster took this approach regarding payment with many of its top 20 earners.

Now, the Department of Social ­Protection’s scoping section has ruled that RTÉ’s employment relationship with McInerney and others was more akin to an employer and employee relationship than that of a contractor.

I would be a fool to predict what I’ll be doing in 10 years

RTÉ is appealing against the scoping decisions by the department, and McInerney’s case is among the test cases being brought to the High Court that will determine whether RTÉ will have to make contractors staff or not. It has already budgeted €11m to deal with the fallout from the case.

How does she feel about being used as a test case? 

“I mean, I would prefer not to be, because the way I see it, really, it doesn’t have anything to do with me. This is between RTÉ and the Department of Social Protection.”

She is unwilling to go further as it is going through the courts but says it doesn’t have any financial implications for her.

“All my taxes are paid, all my business is in order. RTÉ just happens to be using me as an example, but it could have been anybody, so it’s nothing to do with me.” 

McInerney is currently on a contracted role which began in April 2024 and runs for three years.

Does she see herself staying at RTÉ for ever? “Oh God, I think if you look at the trajectory of my career and how varied it has been, I would be a fool to predict what I’ll be doing in 10 years. I have no idea where I’ll be and that’s the way I like it.”

This article was amended at 11.45am, December 14 to reflect that Ms McInerney has two children, aged 7 and 11