Katie Hannon has taken over the 10.35pm slot on RTE One's Monday television schedule with her new current affairs show Upfront.
Journalist Katie Hannon hosts the live audience-centred show where the public come face to face with the issues and the people whose decisions impact directly on all our lives.
The programme takes audiences beyond the headlines of the big stories of the day to those who are living that story.
Viewers had mixed reactions online to last week's launch episode of the programme.
One viewer tweeted: "What an outstanding performance by Katie. Brilliant Show, very upfront. The hour flew, extremely interesting, we need more of it. "
A second said: "Watching #upfront with Katie Hannon - but if it’s only going to be a continuation of #cblive I may not be watching for Long.""
While another said: ‘Upfront with Katie Hannon’ is like the Late Debate on steroids"
Who is Katie Hannon?
Katie is an Irish journalist, radio and television presenter employed by RTÉ.
Born and raised in a family of eight in Co Kerry, she now resides in Dublin.
She grew up on a farm in Bunglasha, a few miles outside Duagh in North Kerry, and is the seventh of eight children, three boys and five girls. She attended primary school in Our Lady of Fatima School in Listowel.
Hannon went on to study journalism in the Dublin Institute of Technology in Rathmines and Aungier Street.
Early Career
She began her career at the age of 21 working as a social diarist for The Herald., RTE.ie reported.
She went on to try political journalism where she worked as a political correspondent for the Evening Herald and the Irish Examiner before taking on the role of Political Editor of the Irish Mail on Sunday.
Katie enjoyed a decade-long career in print media before making the transition to TV and radio.
She joined RTE in 2004 and through the years has helmed her own shows including the political programmes Saturday with Katie Hannon and The Late Debate on Radio 1.
Katie had previously covered Drivetime and Liveline before as well as presenting Ireland on Call.
During the late 2000s and early 2010s she even presented Prime Time in phases.
In November 2022, RTÉ announced that Hannon would take over from Claire Byrne on Monday nights as presenter of Upfront with Katie Hannon, a new current affairs programme.
Apart from being a journalist she is also an author who has written a book titled The Naked Politician.
The book was published in 2004and is a detailed account of Irish politics and its challenges.
More recently, her acclaimed 2021 Radio 1 documentary, Women of Honour, highlighted the misogyny, bullying and sexual assault experienced by women in the Irish Defence Forces; a story that prompted a government review that is still ongoing.
Family life
Kerry native Katie is a proud mum to her twin girls and is happily married to her husband Andrew Fitzpatrick.
She likes to keep her private life out of the limelight and off social media, but she has shared some very personal experiences with the RTE guide.
Katie previously spoke on becoming a mother and said: "I had my kids late in life and up to then I worked all the hours possible. Then, I had two premature babies and I took a full year off using every bit of leave that I had.
"We spent six weeks in the special care unit with our babies and that was a very traumatic time. You don't just walk away from that and forget about it.
“So now when I hear stories that are similar it brings me right back and I feel that jolt again.
“My babies were 2.5lbs and just over 3lbs when they were born and they are hale and hearty now", she added.
Speaking about her new hosting role, Katie told VIP: “I’ve had the privilege of telling people’s stories in print, on television and on radio over many years now.
But I have long believed that the most powerful journalism is where people are allowed to tell their own stories.
“This is about creating a platform where this can happen and where those whose decisions impact on all of our lives are asked to listen; to account for themselves and persuade us that they deserve our trust and support.
It will be a place everyone will be given the space to have their say. I can’t wait.”
Katie revealed to RTE that her parents are gone some years now.
In an interview with RTE, she said: "My mother was an amazing woman. She’d be putting us out to school, scalding the milking machine, feeding calves, milking the cows. I never saw her sitting down.
"She baked bread every single day and the dinner was on the table every evening after school. The women of that generation were incredible. Unfortunately, mum died on January 4th, 2011, when my girls were just four months old. I visited home that Christmas so at least she got to hold my babies."
Another sadness for Katie was the passing of her brother Joe, who was just 30 when he died from cancer in 1993.
Katie added: "It left a huge hole in the family"
"Joe was in his late teens when he was first diagnosed and recovered after treatment. Then he got another type of cancer in his late 20s and that was ultimately that."
You can tune in to Upfront with Katie Hannon on Monday nights at 10.35pm on RTÉ One.
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