1 January – RTÉ New Years Eve celebrations include Jennifer Zamparelli hosting a New Year's Eve Party, from 10.15pm on RTÉ One which is followed by the NYE Countdown Concert with Westlife from the new festival village on North Wall Quay.[1][2]
8 February – TG4 airs a documentary on the response to and immediate aftermath of the Creeslough explosion, despite some of the victims' families expressing concern about the timing of the programme.[7][8]
16 February – The Mirror reports that Winning Streak will not return to RTÉ One during 2023, but that talks are under way to "freshen up" some of the games when it does return.[9]
4 May – Caitríona Perry announces that she will be leaving RTÉ after almost 16 years to take up a new international role as chief presenter with the BBC based in Washington.[25][26]
20 May – RTÉ announces that Patrick Kielty will succeed Ryan Tubridy as presenter of The Late Late Show.[29]
24 May – TG4 announces that it is hiring new weather presenters and continuity announces. No experience is required, apart from a written and spoken knowledge of the Irish language.[30]
26 May –
Catriona Perry co-presents her final edition of RTÉ One's Six One News.[31]
Ryan Tubridy presents his final edition of The Late Late Show.[32][33]
21 June – Dee Forbes, Director General of RTÉ, is suspended from her employment by the RTÉ Board, and later issues a statement defending her record.[35]
22 June –
RTÉ admits that it paid its top presenter Ryan Tubridy €345,000 more than publicly declared between 2017 and 2022, in what the chair of its board says was a "serious breach of trust with the public".[36]
Adrian Lynch, RTÉ Director of Channels & Marketing, is appointed to the position of Deputy Director General of RTÉ.[37]
23 June – Ryan Tubridy issues a statement in which he says he had "no responsibility for the corporate governance in RTÉ or how or what they publish in their accounts", but that he should have questioned the figures when they were published.[38]
4 July – Media Minister Catherine Martin announces an independent "root and branch examination" into RTÉ.[40]
6 July – During a hearing of the Oireachtas Media Committee, Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin accuses RTÉ of running a slush fund, including a payment of €5,000 on flip-flops.[41]
10 July – New RTÉ Director-General Kevin Bakhurst stands down the RTÉ Board, and appoints a new temporary leadership team.[42]
11 July – Ryan Tubridy speaks for the first time about the RTÉ pay controversy, saying that he has become "the face of a national scandal".[43]
19 July – RTÉ One and RTÉ2 launch special idents for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup ahead of the tournament's opening match the next day.[44]
3 August – A report by the UK's media watchdog Ofcom indicates Channel 4 comedy Derry Girls was the most watched programme in Northern Ireland during 2022.[46]
4 August – UTV presenter Pamela Ballantine reveals to the Belfast Telegraph that she was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2022 and has undergone successful chemotherapy, and urges women to have breast screening tests.[47]
11 August – RTÉ Director-General Kevin Bakhurst confirms that legal firm McCann Fitzgerald has begun a review into voluntary redundancy schemes at the broadcaster in 2017 and 2021.[48]
17 August – In an email to staff, RTÉ Director-General Kevin Bakhurst says there are no plans for Ryan Tubridy to return to the broadcaster "for now" after he was taken off air in June following controversy over his salary.[49]
22 August – RTÉ One airs the 2023 Rose of Tralee, which draws a peak audience of 576,000. Those figures combined with views on RTÉ Player give the contest more than a million views.[50]
25 August – The deadline expires for potential sponsorship bids for The Late Late Show after Renault ended their eight year sponsorship of the show in May.[51]
5 September – Professional dancer Emily Barker announces her departure from Dancing with the Stars after six years with the series.[54]
7 September –
During an appearance on RTÉ News at One, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says he believes Ireland is "on the path to unification" and that there will be a United Ireland in his life time.[55]
8 September – Ireland gets two new channels with the launch of the timeshift channelTG4+1, and the dedicated Irish language children's channel Cúla 4.[57][58]
22 September – Patrick Kielty's second edition of The Late Late Show is watched by an average of 548,000 viewers, a drop from 830,000 for the first edition on 15 September.[66]
6 October – The annual The Late Late Show Country Music Special returns with Patrick Kielty presenting his first edition. The show is pre-recorded unlike in previous years.[67]
7 October – Virgin Media One provides coverage of Ireland's Rugby World Cup match against Scotland, which is subsequently described by RTÉ's Oliver Callan as "dull" and "like watching a very dry business meeting" and "four men at a funeral".[68]
20 October – Virgin Media Television announces the appointment of Áine Ní Chaoindealbháin as its next managing director. She will replace Paul Farrell, who steps down from the role in December.[73]
23 October – RTÉ One's Upfront with Katie Hannon broadcasts a lengthy debate about cannabis after the Citizens' Assembly recommended the government adopts a health led approach to drugs use.[74]
31 October – Professional dancer Maurizio Benenato confirms he will not return to Dancing with the Stars, having left the show two weeks into the previous season for personal reasons.[75]
6 November – RTÉ One airs the first in a two-part docudrama, The Nobody Zone – Interview with an Irish Serial Killer, which tells the story of suspected serial killer Kieran Patrick Kelly, who confessed to a dozen murders when arrested by police in London in 1983.[76]
12 November –
The Sunday World reports that Derry couple Carla and James "Shez" Sherry are the first couple to have married after meeting on First Dates following their marriage in June 2023. They are also the first couple from the show to become parents after Carla Sherry gave birth to a daughter in September.[77]
John Nolan becomes the third professional dancer to announce their decision to leave Dancing with the Stars.[78]
14 November – Publication of the document A New Direction for RTÉ in which the broadcaster announces cost-cutting plans. They include a voluntary redundancy scheme to reduce their staff by 400 by 2028, and the closure of their timeshift channels, as well as an upgrade to RTÉ Player. The Irish Government has also signed off a deal to provide the broadcaster with an additional annual €56m.[79][80]
15 November – RTÉ One airs Tomorrow Tonight, a scripted docu-drama set in 2050 and focusing on the effects of climate change. It is presented by Mark Little and Carla O'Brien.[81]
24 November – Patrick Kielty presents his first edition of The Late Late Toy Show on RTÉ One. It would go on to be the most watched TV programme of 2023 in Ireland with 1,575,800 people watching the show.[82][83][84]
28 November –
Closure date for people to respond to the survey on RTÉ's plans announced on 14 November.[80]
1 December – The Late Late Show pays tribute to Shane MacGowan following his death the previous day, opening with a rendition of "A Rainy Night in Soho" led by Glen Hansard, and including stories and tributes from friends, as well as presenter Patrick Kielty.[87] The show, which also features an appearance from Take That, is watched by an audience of half a million, with RTÉ later reporting that a record 5,500 people applied for tickets to be in the audience.[88]
31 December – RTÉ One's New Years Eve celebrations include a special edition of The Late Late Show at 10.15pm featuring a line up of guests including Midge Ure, Wheatus, The Tumbling Paddies and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra. This is followed by The New Year's Eve Countdown Concert from Dublin Castle featuring Picture This and presented by Anna Geary.[92][93]The Late Late Show is watched by an audience of 531,000 viewers,[94] while viewers take to social media to comment on the lack of a presenter to ring in the New Year during the coverage of The New Year's Eve Countdown, which instead sees Picture This playing one of their songs up until ten seconds to midnight, followed by an onscreen countdown.[95]
^Online Safety and Media Regulation Act 2022, s. 8: Coimisiún na Meán (No. 41 of 2022, s. 8). Enacted on 10 December 2022. Act of the Oireachtas. Retrieved from Irish Statute Book on 21 February 2023.