A host of new programmes will air on RTÉ in the New Year, from homegrown drama, to nail-biting sporting moments, to new documentaries and live specials across television and radio.
On RTÉ One and the RTÉ Player, Tommy Tiernan is back with a new series of The Tommy Tiernan Show, running for sixteen Saturday nights from 3 January.
Now in its tenth series, the series will see the comedian and actor meet his surprise guests, totally unprepared and without prior knowledge of who is about to show up.
Dancing with the Stars kicks off from Sunday 4 January for its ninth season, with familiar faces including Niamh Kavanagh, Paudie Moloney and Rose of Tralee Katelyn Cummins among those taking to the dancefloor in the hopes of winning the coveted glitterball trophy.
New Head Judge Oti Mabuse joins Brian Redmond, Arthur Gourounlian and Karen Byrne on the judging panel, while Laura Fox and Jennifer Zamparelli will present.
Following a New Year’s Eve special on 31 December, Patrick Kielty returns with The Late Late Show on Friday, 9 January 2026, with the very first Late Late Show Trad Special.
A host of Ireland's finest musicians, international special guests, and one legendary performer, who will be inducted into the Late Late Show Trad Hall of Fame, will join Kielty on the show, from 9.35pm on 9 January.
This New Year also sees Room to Improve’s Dermot Bannon take on homes of every scale and condition, helping families looking to downsize, upsize, or find the right size for their next chapter.
Starting on Sunday 4 January, Bannon's signature architectural vision once again goes head-to-head with quantity surveyor Claire Irwin’s pragmatism.
In this new series, there are untouched time capsules and clever urban re-designs, including a 1990s three-bed semi-detached home in West Dublin, a "bungalow bliss" home in Co. Meath, a spacious four-bed family home in Raheny in need of major reimagining, and a compact terraced house with big ambition in Harmonstown.
A new series of On the Beat is arriving on screens this January. This docuseries gives unprecedented access to the work of An Garda Síochána across Ireland.
Filmed over six months, and airing on Monday 5 January, the series goes behind the front desks, inside the control centres, and on the beat with Gardaí in Limerick, Monaghan, and Waterford to give an insight into policing across urban and rural Ireland.
Any Given Day: Cork University Hospital airs on Wednesday 7 January at 9:35pm on RTÉ One and RTÉ Player, a new six-part documentary series that goes behind the scenes of one of Ireland’s biggest and busiest hospitals.
This observational series offers access inside Cork University Hospital (CUH), capturing the round the clock shifts of the thousands of professionals who work tirelessly to deliver care.
High Road, Low Road is back in January, taking over Europe and beyond. From the snowy mountains of Austria to the sunny shores of Cape Town, we will see Irish celebrities heading to the most unforgettable destinations.
Across nine episodes, the cast of mis-matched celebrity pairings jet off on two very different holidays. While one enjoys a first-class luxury experience, the other explores the same destination on a budget.
As we move towards spring, the First Dates restaurant reopens for another season on RTÉ2 and once again sees a new batch of hopeful singletons arrive for their dates with destiny.
On hand as always are Maitre D’ Mateo, "table angels" Alice and Pete, and barman Neil.
Spring 2026 will see RTÉ Investigates look at mental health services in Ireland, with a two-part series coming this February.
Also coming soon is The Ryanair Story, a two-part series documenting the 40-year history of Ryanair’s ascent from offering one single route, to becoming a giant of world aviation.
Museum of Me is coming in spring, where host Dermot Whelan will invite well-known Irish public figures, including Pat Shortt, Maia Dunphy, Bryan Dobson, Mary McEvoy, Emma Doran, and Steve Garrigan, to become curators of their very own museum exhibition featuring personal treasured possessions.
New Year, New Irish Drama
New RTÉ comedy-drama series These Sacred Vows, starring Tom Vaughan-Lawlor, Justine Mitchell, and Jason O'Mara, makes its debut this spring.
Written and directed by award-winning Irish screenwriter John Butler, These Sacred Vows opens on the morning after an Irish wedding on a Spanish island, when the body of a priest is found floating face-down in the swimming pool of the young guests’ villa.
Over the course of six episodes, the action jumps back in time to revisit the events of a wild previous week, each from the perspective of a different character.
SisterS returns for a second series, picking up in Dublin eighteen months after Sare (Sarah Goldberg) abandoned her sister Suze (Susan Stanley), who has just discovered she can’t have the biological child she’s realised she wants.
When an invite to Sare’s wedding lands on Suze’s doorstep, Suze travels to Canada in the hope of reconnecting with her sister. Chaotic drama ensues, with family secrets and unexpected revelations.
Fair City promises more drama in 2026. When Paul’s wine theft finally catches up with him, his business - and his future - hangs in the balance.
Mondo faces anxious days as the court decides whether he will be charged with Anto’s murder. And Gwen uncovers a shocking truth that could change her life forever as an unexpected family member moves into town.
Series three of The Dry will return to screens in the spring, as the Sheridans are back and about to face their biggest challenge yet.
The third series unearths a huge family secret that throws everyone off kilter. Will this shocking revelation upend already fragile relations for good, or could this be the missing piece that will finally fix the Sheridans’ broken puzzle?
New Year, More Sport
The sporting New Year kicks off with the Champions League returning on Wednesday nights in January to RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player as Liverpool travel to Marseille on 21 January.
In international soccer, the Republic of Ireland will face Czechia in a World Cup play-off semi-final on 26 March, with the winners moving on to the play-off final on 31 March.
The semi-final will be live on RTÉ2 and RTÉ Player, with the final also live should Ireland get past Czechia.
January also sees the return of the Allianz Leagues in Football and Hurling with live coverage across television and radio as 2025 winners Kerry in Football and Cork in Hurling look to defend their respective crowns.
All-Ireland Hurling champions Tipperary face Galway in Semple Stadium on Saturday 24 January.
Raidió na Gaeltachta will be at the heart of the action as the 2026 All Ireland Football and Hurling league season begins, with live coverage every weekend from January.
RTÉ's Racing coverage for 2026 begins with a bang with live coverage of Thyestes Chase Day from Gowran Park and the Dublin Racing Festival from Leopardstown.
Andy Farrell's Ireland will be aiming to improve on last year's third place finish when the Six Nations begins in February with live coverage across RTÉ, with Jacqui Hurley at the helm guiding fans through every tackle.
RTÉ Radio 1 brings listeners all the action on Saturday Sport and Sunday Sport at the weekend. Inside Sport with Marie Crowe and Jacqui Hurley, airing Monday to Friday at 6pm also on RTÉ Radio 1, dives into the biggest stories in sport, with expert analysis, exclusive interviews, and the latest updates.
New Year, New Cláracha Gaeilge
There are some fascinating new programmes as Gaeilge coming to RTÉ this New Year including For Peat's Sake, which explores how, for thousands of years, people in Ireland have cut turf to heat their homes and cook their food, as an accessible and affordable source of fuel.
This one-hour documentary looks at the role of turf in Irish life and how this has changed in light of climate change and new EU regulations.
ADHD agus Mise, presented by primary school teacher Róisín Ní Thiomáin, takes a deep dive into the human brain and ask whether we fully understand the spectrum of neurodivergence in our communities.
New series Ceol Le Chéile brings together a group of artists and performers to showcase the sounds and talents of our new Irish communities.
Another new series Breith Beatha Bás follows a community of celebrants as they help people all over Ireland celebrate and mark the most emotionally charged moments in their lives.
And in a compelling four-part documentary, Slán go Feoil follows a group of devoted carnivores as they embark on a bold challenge: giving up meat for an entire month.
New to RTÉ Player
There are some exciting programmes coming to RTÉ Player this New Year.
The Affair, starring Dominic West, Ruth Wilson, Maura Tierney, and Joshua Jackson, features a struggling novelist and a young waitress who strike up an extramarital relationship that promises to forever change the course of their lives.
Series 1 to 4 of Ray Donovan are available to stream, with the remaining seasons arriving later in January.
In this crime drama starring Liev Schrieber, Ray Donovan – a professional fixer for the rich and famous in Los Angeles – can make anyone's problems disappear, except those created by his own family.
The first series of the classic Frasier starring Kelsey Grammer will be available, as will The Hunting Wives, Series two of thriller Traces, and serial killer thriller Devil in Disguise: John Wayne Gacy. The sixth series of crime drama Unforgotten starring Sanjeev Bhaskar and Sinéad Keenan will also be available to stream.
Looking ahead to spring, The Vampire Diaries is coming to RTÉ Player, featuring two feuding vampire brothers vying for a young woman's affection.
New to RTÉ KIDS and RTÉ KIDSjr
In Beddybyes as Gaeilge, best friends MeMo and BaBa travel across the remarkable Planet Beddybyes, meeting new and familiar faces on their mindful and soothing journey to bedtime. Airing from 19 January, weekdays on RTÉ KIDSjr.
In Mortina, a young zombie detective, together with her delightfully quirky Mystery Squad – an elegant albino greyhound, a know-it-all cousin, and two alive-alive friends – takes on the strangest, spookiest, and most exciting mysteries inside the wonderfully eerie Crumbling Manor. Airing from 26 January, weekdays on RTÉ KIDS.
Goat Girl as Gaeilge is a quirky coming-of-age comedy about Gigi, who is raised by goats, tackling her biggest challenge: surviving school and making human friends. Airing in March, weekdays on RTÉ KIDS.
In Adam Loves Adventure, Late Late Toy Show hero Adam King is back this February, starring as a problem-solving space-explorer whose prime-directive is to bring laughter and fun to the farthest reaches of space. The programme will also be airing as Gaeilge in March on RTÉ KIDSjr.
New Year, New to Radio
From January, the fresh RTÉ Radio 1 schedule will feature the new full Morning Ireland team of presenters Gavin Jennings, Sarah McInerney, Audrey Carville, and Justin McCarthy, helping set the national agenda every morning with breaking news from 7am, delivering in-depth interviews and insightful discussion of the stories shaping Ireland and the world.
GPO Live Broadcasts
On Thursday 15 January, there will be a special day of live broadcasts from the GPO to mark 100 years since the first broadcast in 1926. The GPO was the original location of the Radio Éireann.
On RTÉ Radio 1, Today with David McCullagh will be live on the day, as will 2FM Breakfast with Carl, Roz and Aisling. The Full Score with Liz Nolan on RTÉ lyric fm will also be live from the GPO, with plenty of live music and guests, in the company of the Army No. 1 Band who played the first music heard on 2RN, 100 years ago.
On RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta, Tús Áite will also broadcast live from the GPO to celebrate the centenary of Radio Éireann.
A new Documentary on One is coming in January to RTÉ Radio 1. The Longest Game is the heartwarming story of a community coming together for the Guinness World Record for the longest game of GAA ever played.
In 1986, Terry Madigan, a native of Kilcornan, Co. Limerick and stalwart of the GAA game, came up with the idea of aiming for a Guinness World Record to raise much-needed funds for his beloved club. Over three days, fourteen players played 60 hours of football without stopping. The Longest Game tells the story of that record attempt, airing on RTÉ Radio 1 on Saturday 10 January at 1pm.
Also on RTÉ Radio 1 is a broadcast of Apeirogon: Until We Talk, an evening with author Colum McCann in conversation with Rami Elhanan and Bassam Aramin, the two bereaved fathers whose friendship across the Israeli-Palestinian divide inspired McCann’s novel Apeirogon. It airs on 4 January at 1pm.
On Sunday 11 January at 7pm, a new three-part series The Fanning Files: David Bowie begins, with Dave Fanning exploring his archives to give a comprehensive overview of the work of David Bowie on the tenth anniversary of his death.
Céilí House is back on Saturdays at 9pm, on the road and across the country recording the finest of Irish traditional music, in the company of presenters Áine Ní Bhreisleáin and Tristan Rosenstock.
The Louise Duffy Show, airing weekdays at 3pm, begins 2026 out on the road at TradFest on 23 January, for the first of many musical visits at festivals for the year.
For new Irish music, the new acts for 2FM Rising will be announced on 5 January. They will be championed by RTÉ 2FM throughout the coming year, focusing particularly on acts unveiling new music and interviews.
Also in 2026, we’re celebrating 21 years of the RTÉ Choice Music Prize. The role of the prize is to champion home-grown Irish music, and the live event taking place from Vicar Street Dublin and broadcast live on air in March is one of the music industry’s biggest nights of the year.
The spring lunchtime concert series on The Full Score is back with live music from the RTÉ Concert Orchestra from Studio 1 in the RTÉ Radio Centre.
The Lyric Feature returns in January with The Forgotten Migration, a programme about a group of 2000 people from North Cork and East Limerick who travelled to Ontario in 1825. In February, Out of the Marvellous sees writer Sara Baume and Regan Hutchins exploring the monastic ways of nuns and how the cloistered life might also guide the artist's way.
In March, The Blind Poetess of Ulster examines the life of Frances Browne (1816-1879) who, having been forgotten for years, has been rediscovered as a prolific author.
RTÉ lyric fm will also bring a series of concerts on RTÉ lyric Live on Friday evenings, broadcast live from the National Concert Hall in Dublin, and Opera Night from The Met, with performances including Scheherazade by Rimsky-Korsakov, Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 3, and Chopin's Piano Concerto No. 1.
On Raidió na Gaeltachta, Pé Scéal É, presented by Máire Treasa Ní Dhubhghaill will be live from the Stripe Young Scientist Competition at the RDS on 9 January, speaking to the next generation of scientists working on projects that will change the future.
On 23 January, Peadar Ó Riada will present the Bonn Óir Seán Ó Riada competition live from Cork. From 31 January to 3 February, a feast of musical highlights from Tionól Ceoil Nioclás Toibín, will include a live concert and special broadcast of An Saol Ó Dheas from An Rinn, Waterford.
On 26 February, Téada and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra are live from the National Concert Hall, and Barrscéalta will be live from Sean Nós na Fearsaide in Belfast on 27 February.
With all of this and more, there is something for everyone coming to RTÉ this New Year.
