{"id":554816,"date":"2026-06-26T07:10:11","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/554816\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T07:10:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:10:11","slug":"the-secret-of-claire-byrnes-success-her-laois-accent-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/554816\/","title":{"rendered":"The secret of Claire Byrne\u2019s success? Her Laois accent \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

How did Claire Byrne<\/a> become one of the biggest names in Irish broadcasting? If you were citing reasons you might mention confidence, composure and professionalism as well as understated yet unmistakable ambition. <\/p>\n

But there\u2019s perhaps another explanation for her success, at least according to the meteorologist Evelyn Cusack: Byrne\u2019s accent.<\/p>\n

As the host presents Tuesday\u2019s Claire Byrne Show <\/b>(Newstalk<\/a>, weekdays) from her native Co Laois<\/a>, her county compatriot Cusack lauds the qualities of the local brogue \u2013 \u201cit\u2019s not very sharp\u201d \u2013 before identifying it as the X-factor in Byrne\u2019s ascent. <\/p>\n

\u201cYou listen to Claire there \u2013 that\u2019s part of the reason you\u2019re so successful,\u201d Cusack says, only slightly teasingly. \u201cIt\u2019s very soothing yet intelligent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Never one to get carried away, Byrne promptly redirects the compliment towards the audience in attendance: \u201cWe\u2019re all very soothing and intelligent in Laois.\u201d <\/p>\n

Whether the host owes her career to her accent is open to debate; she\u2019s certainly not famous for her unfiltered midlands twang. But as she broadcasts from her home county it\u2019s obvious Byrne feels at ease there. The longer the show goes on, the more Byrne reminisces about her upbringing, fondly recalling how she cycled to basketball practice at Ballyfin House and attended the annual steam rally in Stradbally.<\/p>\n

The glorious weather helps her mood. Chatting with her Newstalk Breakfast colleague Anton Savage<\/a> beforehand, Byrne complains about not having enough sunscreen, doing so in a hammy manner that a panto dame might deem excessive. <\/p>\n

The holiday atmosphere is contagious, with Newstalk\u2019s political correspondent, Se\u00e1n Defoe, sounding excited at the proximity to the Stradbally site of the Electric Picnic festival. \u201cI get the urge to pop a can and sit in a camp chair,\u201d he says longingly, prompting an eager response from his host: \u201cToday is the day for it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Not that Byrne is encouraging wanton debauchery. Faced with a selection of cocktails mixed by bartender Stefi Fletcher, the host betrays a smidge of head-girl punctiliousness in her selective invitation to the crowd: \u201cAll of the nondrivers are going to have a little treat.\u201d<\/p>\n

For the most part, however, an enjoyably casual air prevails, with Byrne leaning into a lifestyle-heavy selection of topics, be it walks in the Laois landscape or the joys of an afternoon tea. <\/p>\n

Even the dependably dreary subject of Brexit<\/a> is imbued with an unlikely nostalgic tinge, as Defoe remembers the widespread shock at the result when he was a newscaster reading the headlines 10 years ago.<\/p>\n

Indeed, so relaxed is the host that she loses the run of herself when David Walsh-Kemmis, whose Ballykilcavan Brewery provides the show\u2019s home for the day, suggests that brewing beer isn\u2019t an optimum method for making money. \u201cAh sure, who needs it,\u201d Byrne flightily replies.<\/p>\n

Given her recent comments about not understanding why she deserved to have her RT\u00c9<\/a> salary capped at \u20ac250,000, this apparently carefree utterance jars a bit.<\/p>\n

This minor bum note aside, however, it\u2019s a suitably sunny performance from the host, a further example of the brighter on-air persona she has exuded since departing the parsimony of RT\u00c9 to join Newstalk. Either way, Byrne seems to be paying off the station\u2019s trust in her abilities \u2013 and, for that matter, her accent.<\/p>\n

Byrne isn\u2019t the only Newstalk personality to escape the confines of the studio (excessively air-conditioned, Savage says). The station\u2019s \u201csummer tour\u201d also sees her predecessor Pat Kenny<\/b><\/a> (Newstalk, Saturday and Sunday) visit Co Wicklow, although his jaunt is more study trip than giddy getaway. <\/p>\n

Kenny gives full rein to his love of factual detail as he broadcasts from Avondale, historic home of Charles Stewart Parnell, while chatting contentedly to the gardener Diarmuid Gavin<\/a> about the nearby National Botanic Gardens in Kilmacurragh. <\/p>\n

Even for listeners lacking green fingers, Gavin\u2019s passionate description of horticultural delights effortlessly pulls you in as does his poignant recollection of the late Seamus O\u2019Brien<\/a>, Kilmacurragh\u2019s much-missed head gardener.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Seamus O\u2019Brien, a giant of Irish horticulture, leaves behind an unassailable legacyOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Kenny also sounds absorbed by his interview with Senator Aubrey McCarthy, one of the founders of Tiglin<\/a>, the addiction and homelessness charity. While clearly impressed by his guest\u2019s can-do attitude, the host doesn\u2019t neglect pressing McCarthy when he decries the lack of official \u201cjoined-up thinking\u201d on the housing crisis. \u201cWhat\u2019s the fix?\u201d Kenny asks. (Not allowing families to become homeless in the first place, comes the reply.) <\/p>\n

Despite the difficult issues, it\u2019s an optimistic conversation, underlining how Kenny appears to be enjoying himself in his weekend berth, wherever it might be.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Shane Coleman<\/a> and Ciara Kelly<\/a> take The Hard Shoulder<\/b> (Newstalk, weekdays) on the road, even if they don\u2019t get too far from their city base, presenting Wednesday\u2019s edition from Malahide, north Co Dublin<\/a>. Not that the hosts are disappointed. \u201cI think we drew the long straw,\u201d Kelly says of the show\u2019s temporary venue.<\/p>\n

\"CiaraCiara Kelly and Shane Coleman’s show chimed with the luminous weather <\/p>\n

This cheerful verdict reflects the carnival feel of proceedings, set by an opening blast of The Undertones\u2019 punk-pop classic Here Comes the Summer. Indeed, between camp comic turns from Malahide Woman, the TV presenter James Patrice\u2019s alter ego, and quick-fire quizzes with audience members, the programme at times resembles a variety show more than a current-affairs magazine. <\/p>\n

Kelly even flags the arrival of Newstalk\u2019s roving reporter with the gusto of a big-top emcee: \u201cHenry McKeee-aaaan has just walked into the room.\u201d<\/p>\n

In fairness, the hosts aren\u2019t in unequivocally celebratory form. Coleman acknowledges the role of climate change in our current sunny spell, contrasting it with the dangerous heatwave engulfing much of Europe. \u201cI don\u2019t want to put a downer on things,\u201d he says before doing just that by noting that 95 million people would be encounter temperatures of more than 35 degrees.<\/p>\n

But for the most part the show\u2019s ambience chimes with the luminous weather. Admittedly, the jocular banter of Coleman and Kelly doesn\u2019t have the same refreshing charge as Byrne\u2019s lighthearted turn, if only because the duo have never been above playing to the gallery. <\/p>\n

But, taken together, the unabashedly upbeat tenor of such outside broadcasts are representative of the assurance and buoyancy marking Newstalk\u2019s offerings right now. It all speaks of a station with a sure sense of mission and identity. <\/p>\n

Conditions can quickly change, of course, but for the moment the forecast for Newstalk is encouraging.<\/p>\n

Moment of the week<\/p>\n

Se\u00e1n Moncrieff<\/a> has never been one for sentiment, so it\u2019s perhaps to be expected that his conversation with the culinary historian M\u00e1irt\u00edn Mac Con Iomaire about packed school lunches of times past doesn\u2019t end up as a Proustian reverie about stale cheese sandwiches. <\/p>\n

But as listeners to Moncrieff <\/b>(Newstalk, weekdays) text in their own memories of schoolyard snacks, such as the salad-cream-based concoction branded as Sandwich Spread, the presenter (who\u2019s also an Irish Times columnist<\/a>) sets about obliterating any lingering traces of affection for such 1970s lunchbox staples. <\/p>\n

\u201cYes, I do remember Sandwich Spread,\u201d he says with the audio equivalent of a grimace. \u201cIt always looked to me like someone threw up in a jar, and then they resold it to people to spread on their bread.\u201d <\/p>\n

In other words, not so much a gastronomic throwback as a gastrointestinal throw-up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"How did Claire Byrne become one of the biggest names in Irish broadcasting? If you were citing reasons…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":554817,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[75],"tags":[23901,6504,6989,23898,30653,52,18,117,2215,19,17,11763,5287,24320,1181,63970,112487],"class_list":["post-554816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-anton-savage","tag-brexit","tag-ciara-kelly","tag-claire-byrne","tag-diarmuid-gavin","tag-dublin","tag-eire","tag-entertainment","tag-for-you","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-laois","tag-newstalk-radio","tag-pat-kenny","tag-rte","tag-sean-moncrieff","tag-shane-coleman"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116815162933836353","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554816","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=554816"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554816\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/554817"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554816"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554816"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554816"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}