Today FM star Mairead Farrell has blasted claims Irish radio is sexist towards women.
And last week at Today FM, Louise Duffy was booted from her lunchtime slot to make way for Dermot and Dave – despite being nominated for best DJ.
However Mairead, who is now working on the Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show after years with Ray D’Arcy, insisted there is no need for more female presenters.
Radio hubby: Mairead used to work with Ray D’Arcy | VIPIRELAND.COM
She said: “We don’t need to put women on air just because they’re women. I think people should be on air because they’re exceptionally good.
“We do have a lot of very good male broadcasters in Ireland. If you’re in
control of what goes on air, which a lot of women are, then there’s nothing wrong with that either.”
And Mairead said there are enough females working in the industry – albeit it mostly behind the scenes.
Annoyed: Daniella led criticism of female radio award nominees | VIPIRELAND.COM
“While there may not be a lot of women on radio, there are an awful lot of women in radio,” she told the Herald.
“In fact, radio is run by women. There’s a lot of women in management, there’s a lot of female producers and researchers and they’re in charge of what goes out on air.
“If it’s a male voice that goes out on air and the male voice sounds good and he’s a great presenter, then I don’t have a problem with that.”
