Broadcasters Mary Wilson and ine Lawlor will sign off on Morning Ireland on RT Radio 1 for the final time this morning. Today marks Mary Wilson's official retirement from RT . It will also be ine Lawlor's final Morning Ireland in the presenter's chair; ine will continue to present The Week in Politics and will feature across RT 's coverage of the forthcoming presidential election.
Deirdre McCarthy, RT 's Director of News & Current Affairs, said: Mary and ine are not just household names, they are household voices, deeply familiar not only from their recent years on Ireland's most-listened-to radio show, but hugely popular across their long and distinguished careers as reporters and presenters. At heart they have been and always will be journalists, and it is to their incisive, knowledgeable and challenging journalism that we owe them both a great debt, and thanks.
A reporter, correspondent, editor and presenter, Mary Wilson has spent her career in RT either in front of camera for RT News or behind the microphone on RT Radio 1. From Drangan in Co. Tipperary, Mary Wilson joined the RT newsroom in Dublin in 1990. In 1996 she became the station's Legal Affairs Correspondent, becoming Editor in 2000, and over the years bagged a slew of awards for her news reports and documentaries. She was the Millennium Journalist of the Year and won a number of Justice Media Awards. In 2006 Mary became the first presenter of the new Drivetime programme on RT Radio 1. In 2020 she returned to Morning Ireland where she had worked as a reporter when she first arrived in the RT . In 2023 she was inducted into the IMRO Radio Awards Hall of Fame.
Now after 36 years with RT , Mary is retiring. She says: I know I am fortunate to be able to retire and I am looking forward to becoming a radio listener as opposed to presenter, to taking my foot off the gas a bit and indulging my many hobbies. More hillwalking, bagging another Monro (a Scottish term for climbing mountains of 1000 metres (over 3000 ft), more cooking, more trips to Kerry and above all more time with family and friends. It has been a privilege to present news programmes on RT , to connect with listeners and to work with demanding, intelligent and dedicated colleagues who helped and challenged me every day to do better, to aim higher and to always put the listener first.
ine Lawlor joined RT in September 1984 as a trainee journalist, working on a number of radio and television programmes. She then became a reporter/presenter in January 1988, eventually becoming a presenter on Morning Ireland, which she joined in 1995 and presented for over 17 years. She has worked on The Pat Kenny Show, Today at 5, RT 2fm News and a variety of television programmes, including The Nature of Things, Tuesday File and as narrator for the highly-acclaimed series on clerical sexual abuse in Irish institutions, States of Fear. She was awarded Best News Broadcaster of the Year at the prestigious PPI Radio Awards in October 2012 and went on to be inducted into the PPI Hall of Fame in 2014. In August 2013, she was appointed as presenter of The Week in Politics on RT One television.
In October 2020, ine returned to Morning Ireland. She says: It's been a privilege to be part of Morning Ireland for so many years, to be a part of the programme so many listeners turn to at the start of the day. I'll miss the programme (though not the hours!). I'll miss my great Morning Ireland colleagues, and most of all I'll miss Mary, she's a top-notch broadcaster and a fantastic woman. I'm looking forward to covering the presidential election on TWIP.
ine will continue to present The Week in Politics and will feature across RT 's coverage of the forthcoming presidential election.
RT will announce the new Morning Ireland presenters in the coming weeks.
ENDS
Date: Wednesday 24th September 2025
For Information:
Maureen Catterson | RT Communications Manager TV, Radio and Online
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Broadcasters Mary Wilson and ine Lawlor will sign off on Morning Ireland on RT Radio 1 for the final time this morning. Today marks Mary Wilson's official retirement from RT . It will also be ine Lawlor's final Morning Ireland in the presenter's chair; ine will continue to present The Week in Politics and will feature across RT 's coverage of the forthcoming presidential election. 
