Sean Whelan announced as new RTÉ Washington correspondent

James Cox

RTÉ News has announced the appointment of Sean Whelan as its new Washington correspondent.

Mr Whelan has held the role of London correspondent for the last three years, extensively reporting on Brexit, the pandemic and UK politics. He also worked as economic correspondent for the national broadcaster for almost nine years.

He will be responsible for reporting across RTÉ News' television, radio and digital platforms on all aspects of life in the United States.

He joined RTÉ in 1991 and has worked as a radio reporter on Morning Ireland and a reporter/presenter on This Week and World Report.

He joined the foreign desk in TV news in 1994 and reported on the war in Bosnia. Later as deputy foreign editor he reported from the war in Kosovo, the attempted impeachment of Bill Clinton in Washington, the return of Hong Kong to China and the election of new Labour in the UK.

He spent a decade as Europe editor, based in Brussels, filing stories from every state of the European Union.

Mr Whelan said: "I'm really looking forward to this posting: US politics and society is always fascinating but is particularly so right now. Ireland is literally hardwired into the US economy, so we need to keep an eye on that. And of course, the US role in world affairs is a vital one. The international security environment right now is challenging to say the least - no better place to observe it from than Washington DC. So I suspect I'm going to be busy!"

Mr Whelan will be commencing his new role in February 2022.

He takes over from Brian O'Donovan, who after completing four years in the posting has recently been appointed as work and technology correspondent for RTÉ News.

Caitríona Perry, who presents the Six One News, held the Washington correspondent role before Mr O'Donovan.