Four Late Late Show talking points, including Micheál Martin on Trump and Zelenskyy
Patrick Kielty with Taoiseach Micheál Martin
Just hours after US President Donald Trump declared his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskyy was “not ready for peace” as talks between the two men broke down, Taoiseach Micheál Martin weighed in on the development on the Late Late Show.
Martin shared his “utmost admiration” for Zelenskyy and described the failed talks as an “unsettling setback” but when host Patrick Kielty asked for his opinion on whether Europe trusts President Trump, he was careful in his response.
“I think Europe will continue to engage. I think Europe is worried,” he said, adding: “There's a sense in Europe that Russia is coming in Europe's direction, and now they feel they don't have the sort of sufficiency of support to repel them.”
When asked if he thought Ukraine would “pay a heavy price for Donald Trump's type of peace”, Martin said: “We can't lose hope here, and we've got to hold our nerve in Europe. We've got to get behind Ukraine, engage with the United States and others with a view to giving Ukraine the security that it requires.”
Martin said he is looking forward to meeting Trump at the White House on St Patrick’s Day, adding he is keen to emphasise the business links between the US and Ireland when he meets the president.
“It's a two-way robust relationship. It's not one way,” he said, adding that the visit is “not about me. It's about the Irish people. That we protect our own interests, particularly our economic interests, is very important in a very, very unsettled world at the moment.”
Actor Danny Dyer joined the show to promote his latest film, Marching Powder, and spoke about his family life, including his daughter Dani’s upcoming wedding.
Dani will marry West Ham captain Jarrod Bowen, and Danny said he is a big fan of his future son-in-law.
“I think I'm in love with him slightly. Well, he plays for West Ham,” he said, explaining he supports the team. “He's an incredible person.”
“I just want someone to love my daughters the way I do, to worship them and look after them,” he said before praising Bowen for his relationship with Dani’s children.
“I love him. I can't wait to give her away. I still think that he's marrying the wrong Danny,” he joked.
Long Day's Journey Into Night stars Ed Harris and Jessica Lange spoke about the film adaptation of Eugene O'Neill’s play and their time filming in Wicklow.
“We worked really hard on this thing, and the four of us, it was a very intense few weeks, but it was also really fun. It's such a beautifully written play,” Harris said.
Filming stopped and started a few times, but Harris said it helped the cast bond.
“It was actually very beneficial because Jessica and I and Ben Foster particularly, we spent a lot of time together and we really got comfortable with one another. By the time we started filming, we were all a family.”
Lange also spoke about her love of Ireland.
“If I were much younger and fancy-free, I would choose to live in Ireland,” she said. “You could never get bored in Ireland.”
The daughter of Jason Corbett, the Limerick man who was killed in 2015 by his American wife and father-in-law, spoke to Patrick Kielty about her father’s death and the publication of her book, A Time for Truth.
Sarah Corbett Lynch discussed her father’s death and the subsequent trial a decade ago that saw Molly and Tom Martens jailed, with a later plea bargain reducing their charges to voluntary manslaughter.
Corbett Lynch moved to Ireland with her brother after their father’s death to live with Jason's sister Tracey and her husband David.
“I was extremely lucky to have the family that I have,” she said. “I walked in the front door of Tracey and David's house and I gained two new brothers and two parents that have my back and to this day, have cheered me on when I've had a success, and have held me when I cried.”
She said learning the Martens’ conviction had been overturned was “horrific” and “devastating for all of us”. She said she and her brother Jack “never had a voice” during the trial.
Writing her book was “like therapy”, Corbett Lynch said.
“I’ve always found writing really therapeutic for me. I've realised that I actually cry a lot less [since writing the book] because I've got to put to bed things that happened to me 10 years ago and move on with my life. And that's what my dad would have wanted.”
