PRESENTER DOIREANN GARRIHY said she was not aware of the exodus of radio hosts from 2FM last year, when a number of high-profile broadcasters left the station following rule changes to secondary income streams for hosts, was going to happen.

In an interview on The Late Late show this evening, Garrihy said she had not spoken to her fellow hosts at 2FM before notifying station bosses of her decision to depart from the station.

The exodus was kicked off last year when Garrihy announced that she was leaving her breakfast show after five years at the station. This was shortly followed by The 2 Johnnies, who announced they too would be finishing up at the station.

Fellow presenter Jennifer Zamparelli dropped another bombshell when she announced her departure shortly after, marking an end to over 10 years at the station.

Though it has since been announced that Garrihy will be returning to the Drivetime slot at the station, she told Patrick Kielty that her decision to leave last year was based on a number of reasons, including time for her wedding and to focus on her two podcast series.

“I never could have anticipated how much I would miss it,” she said, adding it was a “strange time” in 2FM and was not surprised by the reaction of her decision.

The trio of departures sparked much speculation about what might be happening at the station as RTÉ had been rocked by high-profile departures, as well as governance and financial scandals at the time.

Shortly before the exodus, an “external activities” register was introduced at RTÉ under new management that required workers to identify any conflicts of interests they might have that may, or may not, have been seen as a conflict with the national broadcaster’s interests.

An example given at the time was a journalist presenting a programme being produced outside of RTÉ studios. Reports at the time suggested that there had been some disagreement between management and hosts over the decision.

Bosses later insisted the 2FM departures were for a multitude of reasons.

Speaking about the reaction to her departure this evening, Garrihy said: “It was a weird time, so I wasn’t surprised. It was a strange time, I had not spoken to the others, so I didn’t know they were going to leave.”

Garrihy is set to return to host the Drivetime programme, without co-hosts, on Monday. She said this evening that she looks forward to her restart at the station.

Kielty also questioned the presenter about a social media post in 2022, which included a brand promotion for Flahavan’s porridge, which sparked controversy after images for the sponsored content were taken inside RTÉ radio studios without permission.

Garrihy apologised for the post this evening, revealing that she had been reprimanded for the action at the time by management and had recognised that it was a mistake.

“That wasn’t a pleasant time. I made a mistake. Obviously, I had a responsibility while working at the national broadcaster, I shouldn’t have done it,” she said.

“You live and learn,” she added.