Byrne left after just one year to work as London news anchor with Channel 5 and later with ITV News, but was lured back to TV3 to present the station's breakfast show Ireland AM. In 2004 she replaced Gráinne Seoige as the main female presenter of the TV3 News at 5.30.
Byrne was previously married to radio executive Richard Johnson which ended in 2006. In 2016 she married Business consultant Gerry Scollan. She has three children, a boy Patrick born in 2013, a girl Jane and a girl Emma born in 2016. born in 2014.
In 2010 Byrne presented her last breakfast show with Newstalk before moving to RTÉ where she co-presented, until March 2012, The Daily Show with Daithí Ó Sé.
In a major shake up of news broadcasts on RTÉ in early 2013, Byrne joined the current affairs programme Prime Time as an anchor joining Miriam O'Callaghan and Pat Kenny.
In November 2014 it was announced that she would have her own current affairs show "Claire Byrne Live" which would go live on RTÉ One in January 2015.
In January 2015 she revealed in an interview that due to financial commitments she could not afford to be a stay at home mum to her two kids.
