He was born on 6 May 1970 in Cork, but was brought up in Gweedore, in the Donegal gaeltacht, where he attended Bunscoil Bhun Bhig and Pobalscoil Ghaoth Dobhair. He is the youngest son of the author Fionntán Mac Aodha Bhuí and comes from a family of eight.
He studied journalism in Dublin before going on to work at several different radio stations, including Radio Ireland, RTÉ and RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta.
He has also written for the Irish language publications Anois, Lá and Nóson Outside of his work at Raidió na Gaeltachta, he is active in the entertainment industry and established An Ciorcal Craiceáilte, now defunct, and An Cabaret Craiceáilte, which aims to bring entertainment, particularly music, to Gaeltacht areas and to Gweedore in particular. An Cabaret Craiceáilte usually takes place once a month.
He has also been awarded two Oireachtas media awards, for Radio Personality of the Year and Radio Series of the Year (for his programme Rónán Beo3) respectively.
In 2013 he presented the series Rónán ar an Camino on TG4, based on his experiences walking the Way of Saint James (Camino de Santiago).
