His original métier may be comedy but, as he opens proceedings on Wednesday, Oliver Callan ( RTÉ Radio 1, weekdays) stamps down any expectations of levity. “We do have a serious show for you today,” Callan states, skipping his usual larky monologue. “The topic is sexual violence against women, so I suppose a deep breath for us all.
” If nothing else, it knocks the wind out of anyone expecting an hour of lighthearted banter from the impressionist-turned-host. The sobering introduction is well warranted, however. Callan devotes his programme to an interview with Bláthnaid Raleigh, the young Mullingar woman who waived her right to anonymity to allow the naming of her convicted rapist, Jonathan Moran .
“It’s not an easy listen, but I implore you to hear from her,” the presenter says, seeking to stay the hand of listeners tempted to turn the dial. In clear and composed tones, Bláthnaid recounts how she and some friends went back to a house with Moran – who was in the same rugby club as her brothers – and his pals during the Galway Arts Festival in 2019. As people left, she found herself alone with him: he switched off the light, she remembers, and “it was like a totally different person entered the room”.
Bláthnaid starkly describes the immediate aftermath of Moran’s vile sexual attack. “I went upstairs to the bathroom,” she says, “I could see I was bleeding.” Distraught as she was, Bláthnaid went to a Garda station soon after leaving the.
