Olivia O'Leary

Olivia O'Leary
Born	1949 (age 61–62)
Nationality	Irish
Education	St Leo's College, Carlow
Alma mater	University College Dublin
Occupation	Journalist, writer and current affairs presenter
Spouse	Paul Tansey (Deceased)
Children	Emily

Olivia O'Leary (born 1949) is an Irish journalist, writer and current affairs presenter.

Educated at St Leo's College, Carlow and at University College Dublin, she worked with the Nationalist and Leinster Times in Carlow. In the late 1970s she began working for The Irish Times as parliamentary sketchwriter.

In 1972 she joined Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) as a current affairs presenter ^[1] and later worked as a presenter on Today Tonight, Questions and Answers and Prime Time. She became the first regular female senior presenter of the BBC's current affairs programme, Newsnight and also presented First Tuesday, a monthly documentary strand produced by Yorkshire Television for ITV.

O'Leary won three Jacob's Awards during her broadcasting career with RTÉ. Her first came in 1973 for her work as a radio news reporter. In 1982, she won her second Jacob's Award for her hosting of Today Tonight. Her chairing of Questions and Answers brought her a third award in 1986. She has also won a Sony Award for her BBC Radio 4 programme Between Ourselves.

She has co-authored the book Mary Robinson: The Authorised Biography, with Dr. Helen Burke, and in 2004 wrote Politicians and Other Animals, a sketch on Irish politics.

She was Chairperson of the Office of the Ombudsman's 20th Anniversary Conference.^[2]

She was married to Paul Tansey, Economics Editor of the Irish Times. He died suddenly in September 2008.^[3] She has one daughter, Emily Tansey.

References

1. ^ "The Afternoon Show: Olivia O'Leary - Party Animals". RTE. http://www.rte.ie/tv/theafternoonshow/1113058.html. Retrieved 2009-02-09. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Press release, Office of the Ombudsman Ireland, 15 October 2004
3. ^ "Irish Times' Paul Tansey dies suddenly". RTE. 2008-09-22. http://www.rte.ie/news/2008/0922/tanseyp.html. Retrieved 2008-10-14. 

Persondata
Name	Oleary, Olivia
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Date of birth	1949
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