Caitríona Perry believes the late Keelin Shanley would be ‘delighted’ with her new role in Washington

Appearing on RTÉ’s The Late Late Show on Friday night, Ms Perry said that while it was a very difficult decision to leave RTÉ, she believes the late news anchor, who tragically died in 2020 following a battle with breast cancer, would have encouraged her to pursue her dream job.

She revealed that even “in her dying days” Ms Shanley still “wanted to do things and achieve things” and they discussed plans for what to do after doing “The Six One News” which they had co-presented since 2018.

“I’d like to kind of think that somewhere out there she kind of tipped the universe in my direction on this occasion. I think she’d be delighted.”

She said Ms Shanley’s death at start of the Covid-19 pandemic in February, 2020, was among the issues she considered when she made the life-changing decision to move her family to the US, she said.

“When you have a close bereavement, when you have children, and the pandemic for all of us makes you sort of re-evaluate what matters to me and my family, what’s important to me, what do I want to do, what do I want to achieve, and what opportunities are out there while you still kind of have a bit of vim and vigour to take advantage of them,” she told host Ryan Tubridy, who is also leaving RTÉ at the end of May.

However, the mother-of-two said moving to another country and leaving her extended family behind will be “bittersweet” – especially for the grandparents.

“I think it’s going to be tough for people but life is short and you have to make the most of it while you can and if adventures come your way you have to grab hold of it,” she said.

Meanwhile, she revealed that while “I didn’t think I’d make it to the end” of the selection process for the job, she was relieved and overjoyed when she was offered the job as chief presenter with the BBC in Washington where she will be one of seven anchors who will present a three-hour rolling news and current affairs show.

The BBC, which has a US audience of around 50 million and 500 million worldwide, is the most trusted of the news networks currently operating in the US, she added.

She said she always wanted to return to the US where she was RTÉ’s Washington correspondent between 2013 and 2017 during her 16-year-long career with RTÉ.

She will leave RTÉ at the end of May and take up her new role with the BBC in August.

In a statement issued after she made the announcement on Thursday she said she was leaving with "a mix of sadness and excitement".

"It is really hard to say goodbye. I have made great friends, worked with some incredibly talented people and had fantastic experiences and opportunities. I have reported from all over the world and had the chance to witness history in the making, particularly during my time as Washington correspondent and as co-presenter of the Six One News,” she said.

"It was a tough decision to walk away from RTÉ. It is an institution in Irish life, but I have been offered an incredible opportunity. I wish to say a special thank you to the RTÉ audience, the viewers, listeners and readers who have afforded me the extraordinary privilege of being a public service broadcast journalist."