Broadcaster Bryan Dobson has said he covered some "extraordinary stories" during his 37 years at RTÉ after announcing his retirement today.
Earlier today, Mr Dobson said he will retire from RTÉ at the end of April this year.
Mr Dobson is currently presenter of RTÉ News at One on RTÉ Radio 1 after working as a journalist and broadcaster with RTÉ News for 37 years.
Since joining the national broadcaster in 1987, he has presented all of RTÉ's flagship news programmes across television and radio, and presented RTÉ's television coverage of elections and special state events.
He said: "After 37 fantastic years with RTÉ the time has come to move on. I will miss working with some wonderfully talented and hardworking colleagues.
"RTÉ journalism depends on teamwork and I have worked with some of the very best.
"I am grateful too to the listeners and viewers who have given me their time and attention over the years. I hope to have repaid that trust with reporting that was relevant, fair and accurate."
Speaking on RTÉ's Six One News, he said "the time has come" for him to retire.
"Well, I would be retiring anyway next year, so I'm going a little bit early, but not really that early and I just thought the time had come."
Mr Dobson said he has been fortunate enough in the 37 years he has spent in RTÉ to do everything in journalism that he would have wanted to have done and to have lived through fascinating times.
"There's an old Chinese curse isn't there - may you live in interesting times. Well for those of us who work in journalism and reporting, actually that's a blessing and we have lived in fascinating times, both here in Ireland and around the world.
"So, I've been able to cover some extraordinary stories and I'd just like to spend some more time with my friends, with my family and also see maybe if there is a new chapter, a new page to turn."
Asked about his standout moments, Mr Dobson said one of his earliest foreign assignments was being sent to South Africa to cover the first elections there.
"The election of Nelson Mandela - and that was in 1994 and one of the first times that RTÉ had broadcast live news bulletins from a foreign location - it was a very exciting time and it was a wonderful example of a peaceful resolution of what had been a terrible, terrible and deadly conflict.
"And I suppose I came away from that thinking that politicians and politics and determination to resolve conflict actually can produce results and it happened here a little bit later in 1998 with the Good Friday Agreement," he said.
Asked if he had plans for the future, Mr Dobson said he does not.
He said he has some charitable interests that he is involved in but he will just see what happens.
"I haven't really been making any plans because it's only just today that the news has got out."
He said he will really miss the people and teams that he works with in RTÉ and he said it is a "wonderful, stimulating environment and newsroom".
"I'll miss working with those fantastic teams whether it's here on TV in previous years or at the moment on radio."
He said he has thought about the fact that this year is going to be an election year, with the possibility of a General Election too, or early next year.
"Will I miss covering that? I'm sure I will.
"I'll be sitting on the sofa watching yourself and Dave and others covering that big story and I'll probably feel a little bit of a sense of maybe some modest regret that I'm not there.
"But I'll also enjoy sitting back and watching it from the sidelines because again it's something that I have been privileged to have had the opportunity to do over very many years.
"So, I'll come back to you after a few months and I can report on how retirement turned out."
The Taoiseach has paid tribute to Mr Dobson in a social media post, saying: "This is the end of an era. Bryan has given 37 years on RTÉ of outstanding reporting and interviewing. Enjoy your retirement from RTÉ Bryan: fair winds and following seas."
The Tánaiste has described Mr Dobson as "a professional" in everything he did.
In a social media post, Micheál Martin said: "The end of an era. Wishing you all the best Bryan as you retire from RTÉ. Informed and authoritative, you will be sorely missed.
"A total professional in everything you did. Always needed to be sharp in our interviews!"
RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst said: "Bryan represents the best in public service journalism.
"For many years, he has brought a calm authority to the most important stories. Every day, he demonstrates a depth of knowledge and an absolute integrity in his work and has never been afraid to ask the toughest questions and hold the powerful to account.
"Personally, it has been a pleasure and a privilege to work with him."
Director of RTÉ News and Current Affairs Deirdre McCarthy said: "Bryan Dobson has been an outstanding journalist and one of the most recognisable and trusted news presenters in the country both on radio and television for decades.
"A part of the nation has grown up with Bryan in our homes every evening on the Six One News and on our radios on Morning Ireland and more recently anchoring News at One.
"His sharp intellect, vast experience and in-depth knowledge across national and international news and current affairs have kept Irish audiences well informed and up to date.
"Bryan has demonstrated the capacity time and time again to tell stories of unbelievable tragedy as well as of great joy.
"A great colleague and mentor in the newsroom over many decades, he will be missed by all the team in News & Current Affairs."
Bryan Dobson joined RTÉ as a reporter with the RTÉ Radio 1 This Week programme.
Later that year he was appointed RTÉ's Business Correspondent, as well as presenting the television business programme Marketplace.
In 1991 he became presenter of RTÉ One O’Clock News, later moving to present the Nine O'Clock News programme before being appointed anchor of the Six One News in 1996.
He spent 21 years at the flagship programme, before moving to be part of the presenting team on Morning Ireland in 2017, the most listened to radio programme in Ireland.
He hosted Election 2020: Bryan Dobson Interviews - a new series in the run up to the last general election of must watch in-depth interviews with political party leaders, broadcast in prime time on RTÉ One.
He has also worked on a number of RTÉ documentary programmes including The Madness from Within, an account of the Irish Civil War; Witnesses to War, which featured interviews with Irish veterans of the Second World War and guest presented special programmes on the Lusitania and 1916 Rising for RTÉ Nationwide.
