Cathal Goan

Cathal Goan, is a native of Belfast, and writes and lectures on Irish traditional song. He joined RTE in 1979, and having worked as an archivist,producer and senior  producer with RTÉ Radio, he moved to RTÉ Television where he was  Editor of Cúrsaí, and Editor of Irish-Language Programming. In 1994 he was appointed Ceannasaí of Teilifís na  Gaeilge (now TG4). He became Managing Director of RTÉ Television in 2000, and Director-General of RTÉ in 2003. Cathal was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters by the University of Ulster at Coleraine for services to Irish-language broadcasting and the media industry in Ireland. He is a graduate in Celtic Studies at UCD and he was elected Senior Honarary Member of the Department of Modern Irish in 2004. Cathal is married to Maighread Ní Dhomhnaill, well renowned singer from Rannafast, Co. Donegal and niece of Neilí Ní Dhomhnaill.