Newstalk reshuffle sees no female presenters on air from Monday to Friday

A presenter reshuffle in Newstalk sees no women in primetime weekday slots after Sarah McInerney’s air time dropped from 15 hours during the week to one hour on Saturday.

The former Sunday Times journalist joined the Communicorp owned radio station last year following a schedule change when Ivan Yates left the breakfast slot. The station announced last week that Mr Yates would be returning to host the drivetime slot by himself.

As a result, Ms McInerney will present a newly created programme focused on current affairs and politics from 8-9am each Saturday, a slot that was occupied by Sarah Carey. Communicorp declined to comment on Ms Carey’s future at the station.

In addition to her new Saturday programme, Ms McInerney will provide holiday cover across the weekday primetime schedule.

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Group editor

Chris Donoghue, who previously hosted Newstalk Breakfast with Mr Yates and Newstalk Drive with Ms McInerney, will take the role of group political editor across Communicorp's stations including Newstalk, Today FM and 98FM.

That role became vacant after Gavan Reilly left the company to work with TV3 news.

Mr Donoghue will also present a two-hour current affairs programme on Newstalk from 11am each Sunday.

"We are delighted to announce Chris as our group political editor, which reaffirms our commitment to top quality news and current affairs across all stations," said Sinead Spain, Communicorp's group head of news.

Patricia Monahan, Newstalk's managing editor, said: "We are delighted to add these two new shows from Chris and Sarah to the Newstalk schedule. Chris is a long time member of the Newstalk family and will set the agenda for the week ahead with his incisive analysis, while Sarah's extensive knowledge of current affairs and the political landscape will be brought to the fore on her new weekly show."