Broadcaster Eamon Dunphy and his producer wife Jane Gogan have announced they are to take a break from their podcast, The Stand with Eamon Dunphy.
The couple said they have no plans to retire and have “long standing commitments” to which they must now attend.
The Stand has been broadcast since 2016 featuring a mix of current affairs and sport presented by Mr Dunphy and produced by Ms Gogan.
A former professional footballer, Mr Dunphy was capped 23 times for Ireland and has enjoyed a 40-year career as a writer, journalist and broadcaster.
Ms Gogan is a former RTÉ head of drama who is currently producing a film based on the podcast The Witness: In His Own Words, which followed the book The Witness, by crime Journalist Nicola Tallant.
The Stand is understood to have been commercially very successful with income from subscriptions and advertising while it also featured regularly in the podcast charts. The last episode was broadcast on December 19th.
“The Stand is taking a break for the foreseeable future,” Tuesday’s announcement said. “We both have long standing commitments to other projects that we must attend to now. Before we go, we would like to thank all those who have helped The Stand to deliver quality news and current affairs content over the past eight years.”
The couple said: “It’s been difficult to make the decision to stop now as we’ve hugely enjoyed working together but now is the time.”
The podcast’s archive is to remain online.
Speaking to The Irish Times, Ms Gogan said the break from the podcast “will be a long pause”. Asked if the couple were reducing their workload, Ms Gogan said “the retirement word wasn’t mentioned. I don’t think it will be.”
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