"I made the decision to leave, it's what I wanted to do, " the broadcaster told the Sunday Tribune on her last day. "A few months ago, I was thinking that I'd rather leave then, but now that it's the last day I think I would like another week.

I'm sure I will miss it from time to time. I've been six years on Five Seven and eight years in RTE before that. I've been knocking around for a while."

English made the original decision to leave a year ago. "To begin with, I think people were pretty shocked because I had unusually kept it a secret for quite a while, which doesn't really happen in RTE, " she said. "They say it's hard to get into RTE, and it's even harder to get outf I was only 31 when I started [Five Seven Live] which is very young in RTE terms, so I think some people in here were surprised to see me move on."

Court reporter Mary Wilson will take over presenting the slot at the end of August and until then Leo Enright will fill in. English had some advice for her successor: "Enjoy it and don't stress over the little things. Sometimes you forget because you're caught up in the relentless day-to-day nature of news. You forget to enjoy it, you forget that it's a great job and you forget the little perks."

In the autumn schedule, Five Seven Live will be replaced by the 'Drivetime' package. Starting at 5pm, Wilson and former Five Seven Live reporters, including Fergal Keane and Fergus Sweeney, will provide news coverage before Des Cahill's Drivetime Sport at 6.30pm.