Early life

Moya Doherty, of Riverdance fame, was born in Pettigo, County Donegal, and raised in Dublin. She attended Manor House School, Raheny.

Riverdance

Riverdance is a worldwide acclaimed theatrical phenomenon, which premiered in Dublin’s Point Theatre in February 1995. The show had started as a seven-minute interlude at the 1994 Eurovision Song Contest in Dublin, commissioned by Doherty, who was the show’s Executive Producer.

Moya Doherty Business interests

She is a director of Tyrone Productions, one of Ireland’s leading independent television production companies, whose output includes drama, documentary and entertainment programming. She was a founding director of the radio station Today FM and, as a member of the Board of the Dublin Theatre Festival, Ms Doherty is heavily involved in promoting new and challenging theatrical work in Ireland..

Moya Doherty Personal life

Moya Doherty is married to co-founder of Riverdance, John McColgan, and she is regarded as one of the wealthiest women in Ireland, with an estimated fortune of £42 million. McColgan and Doherty lived for many years on an extensive property in the Baily region of Howth and having sold the main property, retained a 3-bedroom house with private access.

She did an interview with the Irish Times in 2017. Doherty said “I’d love to have been a poet but I don’t have the talent. Poetry is the most incisive, creative form of expression; more so, even, than literature.” “I see myself primarily as a creative and I am much more attracted to that. I had to appreciate and learn the other [business].”

“I endorse every one of the recommendations wholeheartedly,” says Doherty. “Whether they are implemented or not is another matter. But the debate has started at a high level, and that is a turning point.”

On #metoo she said, “Some of what has come out is staggering to me. But I never felt any of it, even as a young producer. Sure, I’ve had nonsense, old-school misogyny that was no more than patronising. But no harassment.”