“Dearbhail can create a space where all voices feel seen and heard.”
Event Host
Dearbhail is a sought-after moderator for high-level events across government, business and civil society. Whether interrogating issues of leadership, technology, law, or ethics, she combines thorough preparation with a lightness of touch, creating inclusive spaces where even the hardest conversations are handled with balance and humanity.
She has interviewed global political leaders including Jacinda Ardern, Nancy Pelosi, Bill Clinton, and every Irish Taoiseach and Tánaiste of the past decade, and has shared the stage with many international business leaders and Hollywood figures, from Tim Cook to Trevor Noah and Cate Blanchett to Karen Millen.
Renowned for her firm yet fair approach as well as her thoroughness and dedication to every project, Dearbhail brings expansive knowledge, insight and empathy to every stage she steps onto – ensuring her audiences are informed, her guests are heard, and conversations truly matter.
Journalist & Broadcaster
A highly experienced broadcast presenter, regularly taking the chair for RTÉ Radio 1’s flagship weekend programme, The Brendan O’Connor Show and has been in the seat for DriveTime and Saturday - moving seamlessly from hard-hitting interviews to topical reviews and lighter cultural conversations. She has also presented, on TV and Radio, for BBC NI.
Dearbhail has led a series of television documentaries for RTÉ, including Fertility Shock (2019), The Last Nuns in Ireland (2024) and The Last Missionaries in Ireland, with more planned this year.
Dearbhail is one of Ireland's leading opinion formers, with over 300 appearances on leading domestic and international broadcast media. Her opinion writing is guided by her tireless commitment to truth and objectivity and a personal mantra of “neither an elegy nor an assault,” when exploring complex and sensitive issues.
A global Eisenhower Fellow, as well as former Group Business Editor and Legal Editor for Independent News and Media, Dearbhail won a series of awards for her contribution to journalism including UCD Smurfit Business School Outstanding Achievement Award and the Mary Cummins Award for Women of Outstanding Achievement in Media for her legal affairs and business coverage.
Author
Her bestselling book Bust: How the Courts Exposed the Rotten Heart of the Irish Economy cemented her reputation as a fearless commentator on ethics and economic justice. She writes widely for Irish and international publications and is currently working
on her first novel.
Related Media
Fertility Shock
Documentary trailer for RTÉ One.
The Last Irish Missionaries
- making the RTÉ documentary.
The Last Missionaries
“Opening Sequence”