On 9 June 2010, he co-hosted the opening ceremony of the 2011 Special Olympics World Summer Games Irish heats at Thomond Park with Des Cahill.
It ran from the late 1980s until 1995, and had a number of different presenters through the years, including Barry Lang, Simon Young, Peter Collins and Ian Dempsey.
Ian Fleming | Ian McKellen | Jack Dempsey | Patrick Dempsey | Ian Smith | Ian Rankin | Ian Brown | Ian Botham | Ian Thorpe | Ian McEwan | Ian Paisley | Ian Kershaw | Ian Bremmer | Ian Roberts | Ian Ogilvy | Ian McShane | Ian MacKaye | Ian Holm | Ian Carmichael | Damien Dempsey | Paul Dempsey | Ian Richardson | Ian La Frenais | Ian Gillan | Ian Dury | Ian Bannen | Janis Ian | Ian Roberts (actor) | Ian McNeice | Ian Edginton |
Current Today FM presenters Ian Dempsey and Ray D'Arcy, who both worked in children's television at different times in the early parts of their respective careers, feature heavily in the special which looks back at Zig and Zag's origins on Dempsey's Den.
From 1986 Good Afternoon remained but Ian Dempsey, accompanied by Zig and Zag, took control of introducing children's programming from 4:30pm with a new show called Dempsey's Den.
The Ian Dempsey Breakfast Show has been on air since September 1998 and originally broadcast until 10:00 but an extra hour was given to The Ray D'Arcy Show in 2004 to allow direct competition with RTÉ 2fm rival Gerry Ryan.