{"id":490296,"date":"2026-06-09T08:28:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:28:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490296\/"},"modified":"2026-06-09T08:28:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-09T08:28:12","slug":"ireland-ams-eric-roberts-admits-dream-donegal-home-leaves-family-facing-major-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/490296\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland AM’s Eric Roberts admits dream Donegal home leaves family facing major decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Eric Roberts has revealed that while the often stressful process of building a home has been easier than he expected, himself and wife Niamh are facing some tough decisions when the house is built<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The couple left their native Donegal when Eric landed a job hosting weekends on Ireland AM<\/a>, and Eric admits that having moved his family to Dublin, they will have to consider their future when the house in Donegal is finished.<\/p>\n

“The house is going amazing. We started building before I was offered Ireland AM, <\/a>so when we had to move to Dublin, we decided not to rush it as we weren\u2019t sure how long we will be here”, Eric told RSVP Magazine.<\/p>\n

“We\u2019re just chipping away at it \u2014 no pressure. It\u2019s nice going home and seeing the progress, but we\u2019re not checking it every day.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s been nearly four years since we did the plans, so when we walk through now, I\u2019m like, \u201cWhose room is this? Why does Rian have a walk in wardrobe?\u201d [laughs]. It\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019ll be finished this year, definitely. The kitchen is going in over the next few weeks, which is amazing, and once that\u2019s done it should move quite quickly. It\u2019s made great progress already, so then it\u2019ll just be interiors and deciding what direction we want to go in. I imagine it\u2019ll be ready this year.”<\/p>\n

However Eric admits the house being finished won’t change his current reality, which is that his work and most of his opportunities are currently based in Dublin.<\/p>\n

“It\u2019s tricky because we don\u2019t really know what the next few years look like. I love Ireland AM and have no intention of leaving. There may be more TV opportunities too”, he admits.<\/p>\n

However, despite the logic of being in Dublin, Eric admits he feels passionate about wanting to raise their family at home in Donegal.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019ll always need to be in Dublin for work, so maybe if I\u2019m back to commuting a lot down the line we could look at buying here too. I\u2019m not sure what work will look like but I know we want to raise our family in Donegal \u2014 that\u2019s home”, he says.<\/p>\n

“Our family and friends are here. I want Rian to grow up with his cousins and go to the school I went to. So it\u2019s something we\u2019ll have to figure out, even if it means daddy is on the road a lot again. “<\/p>\n

The couple revealed they had tried commuting back and forth went Eric first began presenting, but it proved too much for the family.<\/p>\n

“When I was offered the job on Ireland AM, myself and Niamh spoke at length about what it might mean. We actually tried a couple of weekends travelling back and forth \u2014 renting apartments for the weekend and then driving back to Donegal after the show \u2014 but it wasn\u2019t working, and it was too much with a young baby”, he admits.<\/p>\n

And while the move has been a success, Eric admits he does miss home and his old life in many ways.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m such a homebird. I had my routine up there and I feel like I can switch off when I\u2019m at home”, he admits.<\/p>\n

“When I come up to Dublin, I\u2019m Eric Roberts the influencer \u2014 going to events, red carpets, on television. But when I go home, it all stops. No one cares. I\u2019m still the same Eric who grew up around my friends and family and the lads. I can pop into the shop and no one bats an eyelid, so it\u2019s nice.<\/p>\n

“I can sort of disassociate from the madness that it can be up here, so it can be hard to switch off at times. That\u2019s one thing I definitely miss about being home.”<\/p>\n

And with an unrelenting work schedule, coupled with becoming a father, Eric admits he found it difficult to find time to meet new people and form those close ties in the city.<\/p>\n

“Niamh has a huge amount of friends in Dublin \u2014 she did her teaching degree up here, so she\u2019s in her element. She\u2019s absolutely adored it,” he explained.<\/p>\n

“Whereas I wouldn\u2019t have as many, because my world got incredibly small when we moved up here. With Dancing with the Stars starting, all I\u2019ve done for the last few months is go to work and go home. I haven\u2019t really had time to enjoy anything about living in the city.<\/p>\n

“I did the Dublin Half Marathon recently, and a couple of my friends came up from Donegal to do it with me. We went for pints after, and I don\u2019t think I\u2019d ever been more excited \u2014 just to sit and have a few pints with the boys. I hadn\u2019t done it in about six months. It\u2019s stuff like that you miss.<\/p>\n

“But that\u2019s part of being a new dad too \u2014 everyone goes through it. I want to be as present as I can with my family because I\u2019m so busy and I never know what\u2019s coming up. Any opportunity I have to just be at home and do nothing, I take it with both hands.<\/p>\n

“Especially since Dancing with the Stars stopped, because it was seven hours a day, seven days a week for so long, and Niamh was incredible through all of that. She never complained and was so supportive, so I really owe it to her to make them number one.”<\/p>\n

To read the full interview with Eric and see all the stunning photos, pick up a copy of RSVP’s June issue, on shelves now.<\/p>\n

Photography by Kate Nolan @kate_nolan_photography<\/p>\n

Styling by Laura Mullett, @lauramullettstylist<\/p>\n

Hair by Sarah Nugent, IG: @sarahhair.x<\/p>\n

Make-up by Jade Mullett, IG: @jademullettmua<\/p>\n

Location: St Helens Hotel, Dublin<\/p>\n

St. Helen\u2019s is now part of The Scally Hotel Collection, which includes Hayfield Manor in Cork, Great Southern Killarney, and Killarney Royal Townhouse. This is a proud Irish family-owned group of luxury hotels with a deep passion for genuine hospitality and memorable experiences. As part of this transition, the estate will now be known simply as St. Helen\u2019s, a name that reflects both our distinguished history and our renewed vision for the future. This marks the beginning of an exciting new era for St. Helen\u2019s.<\/p>\n

Contact St Helen\u2019s for your next overnight stay, conference or BBQ event in Dublin, 01 218 6000, www.sthelenshotel.ie<\/a><\/p>\n

Want to see more of the stories you love from RSVP<\/a> ? To add RSVP as a preferred source of news on Google, simply click here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Eric Roberts has revealed that while the often stressful process of building a home has been easier than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":490297,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[21183,93,61,60,68925],"class_list":["post-490296","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-dancing-with-the-stars","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-am"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490296","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=490296"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/490296\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/490297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=490296"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=490296"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=490296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}