Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh admitted she was worried she wouldn’t get the call back to present RTE’s long-awaited St Patrick's Day parade coverage this year - despite years at the helm of the annual event.
The well known broadcaster has been hosting coverage of the famous Dublin parade for longer than anyone else, but said she still gets nervous.
“I still get butterflies in my tummy,” she said.
“And I’m the presenter that’s been doing this for the longest, longer than anyone else.
“I won’t lie, once or twice I was worried I wouldn’t get the call.
“I was always a little bit nervous,” she went on to admit, before adding: “But I absolutely love it and I get those butterflies when I stand on O’Connell Bridge to welcome all the viewers at home.
"Even though it is always freezing.”
After two long years where the annual parade couldn’t go ahead due to Coronavirus, Blathnaid is back at the helm on O’Connell Street this year alongside sports broadcaster Des Cahill and RTE’s new hosts, Home School Hub’s Emer O’Neill and News2Day’s Micheál Ó Scanaill.
Described as Ireland’s most ambitious street parade to date, Blathnaid said she is bursting with excitement as she prepares for the event next week.
“It’s always different,” the Nationwide presenter told TV Now.
“I was at a planning meeting yesterday and I always find myself so excited when you see some of the pictures of what they are working on.
“There are street performers and lots of dance being incorporated. I’ve been doing this for so long but I still get impressed and excited by what I see coming up.”
“The city needs to come alive again, it was so quiet during the pandemic and we need to blow the cobwebs away.
“We just need to have a bit of a roar and scream and enjoy a marching band from Iowa.”
The Co Meath native said her own childhood memories of the parade are of her local town, and urged others to support their own hometown celebrations too on the day,
Meanwhile, for PE teacher-turned-RTE presenter Emer O'Neill, she said presenting the show will be a ‘pinch me moment’ after watching the Dublin parade as a child.
The Irish/ Nigerian mum-of-two, who first shot to fame on the screen during the pandemic as part of RTE’s Home School Hub, before also going on to present the Today show with Daithi O Se whilst Sinead Kennedy was on maternity leave, said: “It’s such a huge event, even more so because we’ve waited two long years to have the St Patrick’s Day parade.
“So I'm excited just by the fact that we’re getting to have one, let alone the fact that I'm actually going to be part of the day.
The Bray native added: “I find that insane, a pinch-me moment.
“I remember as a child watching the parade with my mum and I'll be there broadcasting.”
