''Today Tonight'' was an Irish news and current affairs programme noted for its in-depth analysis, robust cross-examination of senior politicians and investigative reporting. The programme was broadcast on

RTÉ One RTÉ One ( ga, RTÉ a hAon) is an Irish free-to-air flagship television channel owned and operated by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ). It is the most-popular and most-watched television channel in the country and was launched as ''Telefís ...

for the first time on Monday 6 October 1980. Brian Farrell, Barry Cowan and Olivia O'Leary were the three original presenters. They were subsequently joined by others such as

Pat Cox Patrick Cox (born 28 November 1952) is a former Irish Fine Gael politician, journalist and television current affairs presenter who served as President of the European Parliament from 2002 to 2004 and Leader of the European Liberal Democrat ...

, John Bowman and

Pat Kenny Patrick Kenny (born 29 January 1948) is an Irish broadcaster, who currently hosts the daily radio show ''The Pat Kenny Show'' on Newstalk and the current affairs show ''Pat Kenny Tonight'' on Virgin Media One. Prior to this, Kenny had a 41-yea ...

. All of these presenters later went on to hold other positions in

RTÉ Television RTÉ Television is a department of Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ), the Republic of Ireland's State media, state controlled national broadcaster. Its first channel was Teilifís Éireann, which began broadcasting on 31 December 1961. Since th ...

. ''Today Tonight'' was broadcast from Monday to Thursday on RTÉ One after the main evening news and restored the station's reputation for current affairs broadcasting following the demise of '' 7 Days'' in 1976. The last edition of the programme was broadcast on 27 August 1992 and was replaced by ''

Prime Time Prime time or the peak time is the block of broadcast programming taking place during the middle of the evening for a television show. It is mostly targeted towards adults (and sometimes families). It is used by the major television networks to ...

''. It won a number of Jacob's Awards. An in-depth report into the 14 February 1981 Stardust fire broadcast by ''Today Tonight'' on 16 February 1981 led to a senior adviser of

Taoiseach The Taoiseach is the head of government, or prime minister, of Ireland. The office is appointed by the president of Ireland upon the nomination of Dáil Éireann (the lower house of the Oireachtas, Ireland's national legislature) and the offi ...

Charles Haughey Charles James Haughey (; 16 September 1925 – 13 June 2006) was an Irish Fianna Fáil politician who served as Taoiseach on three occasions – 1979 to 1981, March to December 1982 and 1987 to 1992. He was also Minister for the Gaeltacht from ...

accusing RTÉ of undermining the Stardust Tribunal. The series will be available on RTE Player Christmas 2021 to celebrate 60 Years Of Television.

References

1982 Irish television series debuts 1992 Irish television series endings 1980s Irish television series 1990s Irish television series Irish television news shows RTÉ original programming {{Ireland-tv-prog-stub