Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh
{{Short description|Irish TV presenter and Gaeilgeoir (born 1970)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh
| image = Bláthnaid_Ní_Chofaigh_2016.jpg
| caption = Ní Chofaigh in 2016
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| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1970|11|12|df=y}}
| birth_place = Ontario, Canada
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| nationality = Irish, Canadian
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| occupation = Television presenter
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| parents = Sean Ó Cofaigh, Aine Nic Riogh
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Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh ({{IPA|ga|ˈbˠl̪ˠaːn̪ˠədʲ n̠ʲiː ˈxɔfˠiː|pron}}; born 12 November 1970) is an Irish TV presenter, she has presented Echo Island, The Afternoon Show and Charity ICA Bootcamp. She was a judge in The All Ireland Talent Show and participated in Celebrity Bainisteoir.
Career
Ní Chofaigh is a journalist, presenter and broadcaster on Irish television. Former presenter of Sin É, and former reporter for RTÉ News and Current Affairs, she covered stories as diverse as the Clinton visit; 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, 2003 Special Olympics World Summer Games;{{cite web|url=http://www.rte.ie/tv/therestaurant/nichofaigh/nichofaigh_blathnaid.html|title=The Restaurant, Guest Chefs, Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh|publisher=RTÉ|accessdate=29 November 2010}} tall ships and female genital mutilation.
Ní Chofaigh has presented shows such as The Afternoon Show, Echo Island{{cite news|first=Barry|last=Egan|url=http://www.independent.ie/lifestyle/independent-woman/love-sex/blathnaid-rebel-with-a-cause-2098809.html|title=Bláthnaid: Rebel with a cause|newspaper=Sunday Independent|date=14 March 2010|accessdate=14 March 2010}} and The RTÉ People in Need Telethon on RTÉ Television. Her first role as a TV presenter was with the teenage weekly evening show Jo Maxi during the early 1990s. At the time she featured on advert for Oil of Ulay.
Ní Chofaigh presents the Saint Patrick's Day Parade live every year in Dublin City.
She translated the song "The Best is Yet to Come" into the Irish language for the Metal Gear Solid Original Game Soundtrack.Metal Gear Solid Original Game Soundtrack Booklet.
Ní Chofaigh announced the votes for Ireland in the Eurovision Song Contest in 2001.
Ní Chofaigh co-presented The Afternoon Show from the first season in 2003 but abandoned it in 2009, complaining of health problems.{{cite news|first=Aengus|last=Fanning|url=http://www.independent.ie/entertainment/tv-radio/stress-and-health-issues-force-tearful-blathnaid-to-abandon-rte-show-26569408.html|title=Stress and health issues force tearful Blathnaid to abandon RTE show|newspaper=Irish Independent|date=27 September 2009|accessdate=27 September 2009}} The show was axed in 2010 a year after she left.{{cite news|url=http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2010/aug/01/rtes-afternoon-show-axed-for-new-season/ |title=RTÉ's afternoon show axed for new season |newspaper=Sunday Tribune |date=1 August 2010 |accessdate=1 August 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100807211943/http://www.tribune.ie/news/home-news/article/2010/aug/01/rtes-afternoon-show-axed-for-new-season/ |archivedate= 7 August 2010 }} She was a judge on The All Ireland Talent Show, and had great success on the final season with her act Daniel Furlong who took home the trophy.
In 2007 she was voted one of Ireland's sexiest women in a Sunday Independent magazine poll.
In 2010, Ní Chofaigh took part in the reality TV series Celebrity Bainisteoir, managing Nobber GFC, based in her home county of Meath. She took the team as far as the semi-final and then she lost. In 2011, Ní Chofaigh began hosting a new series called Charity ICA Bootcamp, which pitted celebrities taking on each other in challenges, with the winner Peter Clohessy receiving money to give to his chosen charity.
Ní Chofaigh was back on television with another afternoon lifestyle day-time talk show on RTÉ One in November 2012 alongside Norah Casey.{{cite news|url=http://www.rte.ie/ten/2012/1109/nichofaighb.html |title=Bláthnaid back on the box from Today |publisher=RTÉ |date=9 November 2012 |accessdate=9 November 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121111080705/http://www.rte.ie/ten/2012/1109/nichofaighb.html |archivedate=11 November 2012 }}
In January 2013, Ni Chofaigh made her acting debut in the TG4 series Crisis Eile, playing politician Maeve Kelly-Clarke.
In 2022, Ní Chofaigh gave a TEDx talk, through Irish on the topic of being an Irish speaker in modern Ireland.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Dulim5PrKI|title = Is Gael mé | Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh | TEDxMerrionSquareWomen|website = YouTube}}
Personal life
Born in Canada, she was raised in the Gaeltacht of Ráth Chairn, County Meath, Ireland. She is married with four children and currently lives in Dublin. Ní Chofaigh is a native Irish speaker, and an Irish-language campaigner.
Ní Chofaigh is an ambassador for the charity Plan Ireland.{{cite web|url=http://plan.ie/about-plan/news/blathnaid-ni-chofaigh-becomes-ambassador-for-girls-1 |title=Ambassador for Girls |publisher=Plan Ireland |accessdate=24 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110213085049/http://plan.ie/about-plan/news/blathnaid-ni-chofaigh-becomes-ambassador-for-girls-1 |archivedate=13 February 2011 }}{{cite web|url=http://plan.ie/what-you-can-do/campaigns/because-i-am-a-girl-campaign |title=Because I am a Girl |publisher=Plan Ireland |accessdate=24 September 2010 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100813154639/http://plan.ie/what-you-can-do/campaigns/because-i-am-a-girl-campaign |archivedate=13 August 2010 }}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.rte.ie/theafternoonshow The Afternoon Show] at RTÉ.ie
{{Celebrity Bainisteoir}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ni Chofaigh, Blathnaid}}
Category:20th-century Irish people
Category:21st-century Irish people
Category:Canadian people of Irish descent
Category:Irish children's television presenters
Category:People from Monkstown, County Dublin
Category:People from County Meath