RTE's Morning Ireland says goodbye to two of the station's longest-serving broadcasters

RTE Radio 1 have announced that broadcasters Áine Lawlor and Mary Wilson will sign off from their roles on Morning Ireland for the final time on Wednesday morning, September 24. 

The date will mark Mary Wilson's official retirement from RTE. Mary spent her entire career with Ireland's national broadcaster across a series of roles including reporter, correspondent, editor and presenter.

Originally hailing from Drangan in Tipperary, she joined the RTE newsroom in 1990 before carving out a distinguished broadcasting career which saw her announced as the Millennium journalist of the year and inducted into the IMRO Radio Awards Hall of Fame. 

The former drivetime presenter returned to Morning Ireland in 2020 where she originally started as a reporter after joining RTE.

Speaking on her retirement after 36 years with RTE, Mary said: "I know I am fortunate to be able to retire and I am looking forward to becoming a radio listener as opposed to presenter, to taking my foot off the gas a bit and indulging my many hobbies. 

She also reflected on her time with the broadcaster saying: "It has been a privilege to present news programmes on RTE, to connect with listeners and to work with demanding, intelligent and dedicated colleagues who helped and challenged me every day to do better, to aim higher and to always put the listeners first". 

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Wednesday morning will also mark the final outing for Áine Lawlor in the Morning Ireland presenter's chair. She will continue to present 'The Week in Politics' and will feature across RTE's coverage of the upcoming presidential election. 

Áine has been with RTE since 1984 and originally joined Morning Ireland in 1995 staying for 17 years. She then went on to present a series of shows for RTE across TV and Radio and was inducted into the PPI Hall of Fame in 2014. 

Áine has been the presenter of 'The Week in Politics' on RTE One television since 2013 and returned to Morning Ireland in October, 2020. Even though she is departing from Morning Ireland, she will continue to present the The Week in Politics and will feature across RTE's coverage of the upcoming presidential election. 

Speaking on her time with the radio show, Áine said: "Its been a privilege to be part of Morning Ireland for so many years, to be part of a programme which so many listeners turn to at the start of their day. I'll miss the programme but not the hours". 

She added: "I'll miss my great Morning Ireland colleagues, and most of all I'll miss Mary, she's a top-notch broadcaster and a fantastic woman. I'm looking forward to covering the presidential election on TWIP". 

RTE's Director of News and Current Affairs Deirdre McCarthy paid tribute to the two broadcasters. She said: "Mary and Áine are not just household names, they are household voices, deeply familiar not only from their recent years on Ireland's most-listened to radio show but hugely popular across their long as distinguished careers as reporters and presenters". 

She finished by saying: "At heart they have been and always will be journalists and it is to their incisive, knowledgeable and challenging journalism that we owe them both a great debt, and thanks".

RTE have said that the new presenters for Morning Ireland will be announced over the coming weeks.