'Working from home' - former RTÉ star returns to the airwaves with brand new podcast

Ray D’Arcy has officially returned to the airwaves with his new podcast, Ray D’Arcy Daily, just months after his departure from RTÉ. 

The former radio presenter’s latest endeavour - the Ray D'Arcy Daily podcast - will be available to stream or download at 11am every weekday on Spotify with producer and wife Jenny, who previously worked in both RTÉ and Today FM. 

Launching his first episode, Mr D’Arcy said: “Let's see how we get on with this. I'm working from home and the last time I worked from home was during covid and it was something, although it didn't work out in the end. We did it for one day and then the technology let us down the second day. If you can hear me now, the technology hasn't let us down and we're podcasting from home, yippee and we're gonna be doing it daily!”

He went on to say that if this is to be a success then he will have to change the listening habits of people because a lot of them have a “weekly arrangement” with certain podcasts but very few have a daily arrangement.

On this topic, D’Arcy then began to think: “What do people want to do daily that they don't?” and took to the streets of Dublin, equipped with his microphone, to find out. 

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The public gave a variety of answers, including going for daily walks, finding the time to run every day, waking up to see the sunrise and seeing at least one person they love every day to which the now-podcaster said, “Isn't that a beautiful thing?” 

“Have a think about that today,” he told his listeners. “What would you like to do daily that you don't put to the top of your list? Listen to a daily podcast, Ray D’Arcy Daily.” 

He also recommended “passing on a song” that you enjoy to other people after having a friendly music-related encounter with a man in a coffee shop, where he tends to wear a beanie and sunglasses. Even though this “wasn’t the aim” Mr D’Arcy appreciates the ‘disguise’ of sorts as it enabled him to do something he hasn’t done since his 20s- eavesdropping! 

Moving onto tougher topics, Ray then discussed an article in the Irish Times written by Sinéad O’Sullivan on the lack of joined-up statistics on road deaths in the country.

The author of this article said the number of people killed on Irish roads should be a “public health crisis” and calculated the years of life that have been lost.

The presenter explained: “So if you look at the majority of people who join our roads are between the ages of 16 and 25, they have long lives ahead of them.

“So, if you die at the age of 16, and the average lifespan is somewhere around 80, well, then over 60 years have been lost, so she (Ms O’Sullivan) says, and she's done the calculations, 190 road deaths in the Republic last year destroyed more years of life than prostate cancer, ovarian cancer, liver cancer, pancreatic cancer and cervical cancer combined. Fewer deaths, but with younger victims, means more life lost.”

Mr D’Arcy continued: “So it is a public health crisis. Why have we never got it right? Now we sort of did back in the day when the Road Safety Authority was first set up and a man called Noel Brett was in charge. He did a really good job and I think over a number of years, he halved, with the Road Safety Authority and everybody else involved, halved the number of deaths on Irish roads. That was a great achievement and we seem to have slipped.”

When this piece was written back in December, the personality wrote a letter to the editor of the Irish Times, which was not published, after being “struck by a disturbing case of Deja vu” when reading it. 

The letter stated, “She (O’Sullivan) outlined the malaise of institutional diffused responsibility, which continues to hinder efforts to reduce road deaths in Ireland. It was a similar situation over 20 years ago that led to the setting up of the Road Safety Authority in 2006. At the time, road deaths were in the late three hundreds and there was an air of futility in the commentary surrounding the issue. Noel Brett, the first CEO of the newly formed RSA, oversaw a five year plan, 2007 to 2012 in that strategy,

“In many ways, it led to a halving of the number of fatalities on Irish roads. As I've said, the strategy had 126 actions and each of those actions was allocated a department or a state agency with a clear deadline. Noel Brett told me about the frenzy of activity in the lead up to the regular RSA strategy meetings. Everyone got their homework done, he said, from ministers to Garda Commissioners and as a result, lives were saved. Noel Brett was an exemplary public servant who we lost to the private sector. He cared, he took responsibility and he got things done. Can we not learn from past successes? Somebody must have no Brett's number, regards Ray D’Arcy,” the letter concluded. 

The podcaster gave special mention to a website Ms O’Sullivan set up, stoproaddeaths.ie, which tracks when and where people die after road traffic collisions in Ireland. 

Also in recent news, D’Arcy attended The Slightest Touch premiere, which is a documentary that centres around Emma Fogarty, who suffers from Epidermolysis Bullosa, and her friendship with actor Colin Farrell who “suffers with being a Hollywood superstar.” The film tells their story of preparing for the Dublin Marathon in aid of charity. 

As well as this, he discussed Ireland’s oldest man, 104-year-old Paddy Claffey from Offaly, who attributed his fine age to having a loving family, a good appetite and never drinking! 

Irish television presenter Mairead Ronan then joined the broadcaster, where he spoke about how this podcast is another new ‘first’ for him but "dreamed about doing it forever.” 

The ex Dancing With The Stars contestant discussed the most recent episode of the series and issued a reminder to viewers that “it is not a dancing competition, it's an entertainment show on the telly.” 

The pair joked that “Reeling in the Years is sorted” for 2026 between Paudie Moloney’s Gangnam Style dance on the TV show and Ireland’s shockingly unpredictable weather. 

D’Arcy confirmed that Mairead Ronan will be a regular contributor on the podcast, who is delighted that they are now “back together on mic” 

He then went on to interview a college student as part of the new ‘little red mic cafe quiz’ where, if the participant gets 3 out of 5 answers correct, they will be awarded with a coffee of their choosing! The fun segment will feature in upcoming episodes, taking place in different coffee shops. 

Finally joined by his wife Jenny, who is also producing the podcast, she pondered her husband’s earlier question of “what do people want to do daily that they don't?”

The radio personality said she is grateful that everything she wants to do daily, she does but would love “an hour of silence” to which he jokingly replied, “well you’re not getting that in this house!” 

The pair thanked those who wished them good luck on this journey together, with Mr D’Arcy saying that this is an “exciting” time for them as now the husband and wife duo are “working together, living together and sleeping together.”

Mrs D’Arcy asked those tuning in to share the podcast and send it to a friend. 

The daily podcast show comes just six months after the presenter left RTÉ following about 40 years of working on and off with the Irish broadcaster.