Irish Film and Television Awards

People's Choice Award - TV PERSONALITY OF THE YEAR

Eamonn Holmes

Gerry Kelly

Martin King

Taragh Loughery-Grant

Daithi Ó Se

Bill O'Herlihy

“It’s great to work on TV but it’s even better to work on programmes people want to see. This tops a great year I’ve had in BBC Northern Ireland”

While Eamonn Holmes’ early hours are accounted for, over the past few years his days have been spent working for BBC Northern Ireland. 2006 saw Eamonn completing his second series of Summer Season in which he travelled all over Ireland to bring the holiday feel and characters involved in it to BBC Northern Ireland viewers. Eamonn was also able to bring one of his personal projects to BBC Northern Ireland screens - the world famous Grand Opera House, of which he is a patron, embarked on an ambitious redevelopment programme bringing the Arts to all sections of the community.

Father of four, Eamonn is a passionate Manchester United fan and divides his week between Belfast where he lives, London where he works and Old Trafford where he worships.

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"I'm thrilled to be nominated for the People's Choice TV Personality Award again and it would be great to see it coming to Northern Ireland this year!"

Gerry Kelly is firmly established as one of the most popular and successful broadcasters in the country. As host of Gerry Meets… he’s in conversation with a range of people in the public eye, and finds out more about the individual behind the public persona. Guests featured during the 2006 series included Gloria Hunniford, Bertie Aherne, Patrick Kielty, Clive James, Gay Byrne, Michael Barrymore, Charley Pride and Daniel O’Donnell.

Over the years Gerry has received numerous awards, most notably, Top TV entertainer in the EMA Awards on three occasions and the Royal Television Society honoured him by inducting him into their Hall of Fame for his contribution to Television in Ireland. He presented a weekly live chat show KELLY on UTV for 17 years (1989 – 2005).

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“To be honest I hadn't forecast this...but it did bring an instant burst of sunshine into the day for me! Seriously, it was a lovely surprise to hear that I had been nominated, a genuine honour. Hard to take in really. The great thing is that the people who really matter, the people at home who take the time to watch TV, are the ones who will decide which one of us should win the award.”

When TV3 launched in 1998 Martin King became an instant hit. Heis best known for bringing a twist to the weather and the nation’s forecasts haven’t been the same since. His personality driven style of weather forecasting has won Martin many awards and he is one of the main features of TV3’s news presentation.

Martin spent 9 years working at 98FM as one of their main on-air personalities before moving to TV3. Returning to the airwaves in 2002 Martin has his own Saturday Morning show on Today FM called Roll Over with Martin King. Martin is a keen sports fan, GAA and soccer being the two he enjoys the most. He lives in Dublin with Jenny and their children.

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"I am absolutely delighted to be nominated for an IFTA award as Channel 6's TV Personality Of The Year. The Channel hasn't even been on the air a year and already the response to our show, Take 6 and what we have achieved on the station, has been tremendous and inspiring, as is this nomination."

Taragh has already made her name in the Irish media as FM 104’s entertainment correspondent. She made her name presenting “The Juice”, a weekly two hour entertainment show on all the latest entertainment and showbiz news mixed with music from the charts. This background knowledge in entertainment and showbiz along with her passion for movies made Taragh the ideal candidate for the Channel 6 movie show, Take Six. The show takes an intelligent look at all aspects of both cinema and DVD releases. It will review the top 10 box office releases that week, combined with extended clips of movies and interviews.

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"I'm absolutely thrilled and I'm really looking forward to the big night, win, lose or draw I'm going to enjoy myself.”

Dáithí Ó Sé is a weather and continuity presenter on TG4 and is a man of many other musical talents and accomplishments. In addition to his weather duties, he has presented a variety of programmes including the channel’s flagship Gradam Ceoil TG4 (Traditional Music Awards) 2002, in front of an audience of 1,000. He also hosted the Summer Féilte series and a season of the chat show Coinne Le and the popular annual live sean-nós dancing programme Steip.

In Summer 2006, Dáithí made a huge impact in reaching the last three in the televised Charity You’re a Star competition. His next presenting task will be with the upcoming Glór Tíre music programme on TG4 from early February 2007.

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“I have been associated with our national broadcaster and Irish sporting life for over 40 years now. I am delighted to be nominated by RTÉ for this award."

Bill O’Herlihy made his first television broadcast in 1965 for the programme Newsbeat in a feature on the 50 th Anniversary of the sinking of the Lusitania off Kinsale. He was the first RTÉ reporter/presenter to be based outside Dublin. Moving to Dublin in 1968, Bill worked on the award-winning 7 Days before moving to sport in 1972. Bill has over the years anchored various Olympic Games, World Cup Finals in both soccer and rugby, numerous European Championships as well as the European and World Track and Field Championships. In addition he produced and presented The Distant Drum, a 13 part series on the Irish diaspora.

Bill received a Jacobs Television Award for his presentation of the 1990 World Cup and, in 2003, was named the Irish Sports Journalist of the Year. Bill O’Herlihy currently presents Champions League for RTÉ Television.

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