RTE confirms schedule shake-up as many popular shows won't air this weekend

RTE bosses have made changes to this weekend's TV schedule to accommodate coverage of the General Election.

The public will vote for who they want to see represent them in the next Government this Friday, November 29, after a short but action-packed three-week campaign.

As the votes take time to count due to Ireland's PR-STV system, it can take several days for the results of the election to be processed. RTE News will provide extensive live coverage across RTE One this weekend to cover updates, developments and analysis as they happen, meaning the usual schedule been changed.

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News reporters will be stationed in all 43 constituencies across the country, with analysis and discussion taking place in RTE's studio in Donnybrook.

Kicking things off on Saturday morning (November 30), will be coverage from David McCullagh, Katie Hannon and Miriam O'Callaghan. The first news programme will air between 9am and 1pm. The One O'Clock News will air as normal, before election coverage resumes until 5.45pm.

After Nuacht and The Six One News, there will be more coverage to bring viewers up to The Nine O'Clock News, and this will resume once more until 2am in the morning.

On Sunday morning (December 1) Aine Lawlor, Fran McNulty and Sarah McInerney will be at the helm from 10am until 1pm. After The One O'Clock News, David McCullagh will present until 3pm.

There will then be a break from election coverage as normal programming resumes. After The Nine O'Clock News, Fran and Miriam will round off the latest news from a weekend of counting until 10.30pm.

Saturday's schedule will be majorly impacted by the election coverage. Baz Ashmawy's The Money List won't air on Saturday evening, instead airing twice on Sunday, while there will be no Big Big Movie for younger viewers to tune into.

Drama series The Gone will be pushed back too as fans will have to wait another week to see what happens next.

There is less disruption on Sunday as TV favourites such as The Money List and Fair City will air as normal. Viewers can also tune in to Ear to the Ground, Keys to My Life and The Way We Were throughout the day and evening.