Teresa Mannion is all smiles as we spend the day with her in Glenlo Abbey.
She may be a Galway Girl now, but Dublin has never left her heart. She tells us she’s a “Dub” true and true.
Over the past forty years, Teresa has become one of the most familiar and trustworthy faces in Irish broadcasting. From breaking some of the country’s biggest news stories to becoming an internet phenomenon in 2015 on the Salthill promenade, she has brought us the moments which matter most.
But this summer, Teresa prepares to hang up her mic and retire after a remarkable career, and she’s looking forward to a slower pace of life.
“Gosh, I’ve mixed emotions,” she says of retirement.
“I’m ready and I’m looking forward to the freedom and having quality time with people while I’m in good health and can do things for myself, but I don’t hate my job. It’s a very different media landscape to what I started out in initially. We had no internet and now to see all the changes, it’s mad.”
She jokes: “When I first arrived, we were still using typewriters and people were smoking in the office! We had a pile of VHS’ and used to take phones out on loan. It’s so streamlined now and the technological revolution we’ve undergone is massive. I love being able to do it all now, I hope that when I leave, I won’t fall too far out of the loop.”
She admits that it was her age that made her decide it was time to say goodbye to broadcasting.
“I felt like I was ready. I’m 65 in September. I could have stayed another year, but it was my own decision. All of my friends and colleagues my age are retiring too,” she explains.
“I’m at a retirement party practically every week. It’s like a mini exodus but it’s also the natural order of things and how it should be. Young, hungry journalists are coming into the newsroom with a new way of operating, they’re bringing their own skills and a different perspective on stories.
“Every generation brings change. I’m reconciled with it now.”
Read our full conversation with Teresa in the August issue of VIP Magazine on shelves nationwide now
