Bill O'Herlihy

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Bill O'Herlihy asks questions of Johnny Giles and Liam Brady
Bill O'Herlihy asks questions of Johnny Giles and Liam Brady

Bill O'Herlihy (born September 26, 1938) is an Irish sports broadcaster with Radio Telefís Éireann. He also heads one of Ireland's largest public relations firms.

Bill O'Herlihy has had a long and varied career in RTÉ Television in news features, current affairs and sport. He made his first television broadcast in 1965 in a programme commemorating the sinking of The Lusitania off the Cork coast. It began a three-year association with Frank Hall's "Newsbeat", with O'Herlihy becoming the first RTÉ reporter to be based outside Dublin. For Newsbeat he covered stories all over the south and west of Ireland and was also a regular contributor to RTÉ Radio Sport.

O'Herlihy moved to Dublin in 1968 as a presenter with RTÉ Current Affairs on the award winning 7 Days programme working on stories and features on the Middle East, Cyprus and Europe in addition to coverage of major national events. Since 1972 Bill has been a sports anchor on the Olympic Games, World Cups in soccer and rugby, the European Championships and the European and World Track & Field Championships. He won a Jacobs Award for his presentation of the 1990 World Cup when Ireland reached the quarter-finals. He continues to present coverage of Ireland's soccer internationals for RTÉ as well as a programme called The Premiership, a weekly look at the FA Premier League.

In 1973 he founded the Bill O'Herlihy Communications Group which includes Public Relations of Ireland and Mediawise, a television production company which has among its credits programmes such as Lemass and A Portrait and the Distant Drum series on successful Irish expatriates.

Bill O'Herlihy in the RTÉ studio
Bill O'Herlihy in the RTÉ studio

In 2004 the Sunday Independent reported that O'Herlihy had lobbied on behalf of an Irish company, Bula Resources, to lift sanctions on Iraq.[1] Bula, which had former taoiseach Albert Reynolds as its chairman, was negatively affected by the existence of sanctions. Environmental lobbygroup and charity An Taisce also claim that O'Herlihy's company, on behalf of a client, was involved in political lobbying for a controversial land rezoning at Cherrywood in Dublin.[2]

Among the senior public relations practitioners who work, or have worked, with O'Herlihy's companies are Pat Heneghan, Eileen Gleeson (later press officer to the President of Ireland, Mary McAleese) and one-time RTÉ broadcaster Fintan Drury.

O'Herlihy has many admirers in Ireland for his brand of TV presenting, and has inspired a website name, based on his catchphrase "Okey Doke", which includes a tribute page at OkeyDokeFootball.com.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ 'Bula paid O'Herlihy to lobby for Iraq' - Sunday Independent 22.02.04., Finfacts Ireland reporting of the incident and explaining its context.
  2. ^ Press release by An Taisce. 28 May 2003.


Radio Telefís Éireann presenters and hosts

Chat show hosts: Gay Byrne | Frank Hall | Pat Kenny | Mike Murphy | Ryan Tubridy

News & Current Affairs: Charlie Bird | John Bowman | Brian Cleeve | Barry Cowan | Donagh Diamond | Sean Duignan | Brian Farrell | Mark Little | John O'Donoghue | Bill O'Herlihy | Olivia O'Leary | Sean O'Rourke

Sports: Eamon Dunphy | Johnny Giles | George Hamilton | George Hook | Jimmy Magee | Michael O'Hehir | Tracey Piggott

Newsreaders and Announcers: Anne Doyle | Don Cockburn | Derek Davis | Bryan Dobson | Eileen Dunne | Charles Mitchel | Maurice O'Doherty | Emer O'Kelly | Vere Wynne-Jones

See also: List of programmes broadcast by RTÉ
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