Mick Clifford: Is Patrick Kielty the man to save the Late Late?

His avowed nationalism with a small n makes Kielty a perfect facilitator of wider debate on what kind of future awaits the island. He will need a lot more than that if he is to keep the Late Late Show on the road

Patrick Kielty and Cat Deeley at the Irish Film and Television Awards in Dublin last Sunday. “Whoever gets that gig is going to be really, really lucky.” Picture: Brian McEvoy

“DO you want to know what I think?” So asked Brendan O’Connor on his RTÉ radio show two Sundays ago. The topic of conversation with his newspaper panel was the ongoing speculation about who was going to be appointed to succeed Ryan Tubridy as presenter of the Late Late Show. Of course, listeners wanted to know what O’Connor thought. If they were tuning to RTÉ radio on a Sunday morning there was a good chance that they were part of the shrinking demographic that still watched prime time TV live.

Over the previous few days, two of the frontrunners for the job had taken the high road. Claire Byrne, the unbackable favourite, and Sarah McInerney, who has acquired a reputation as an astute interviewer, had both declared they want to hang onto their Friday nights for themselves, rather than share it with the nation. Thanks, but no thanks. After the earlier departure from the race of Miriam O’Callaghan, the field had now seriously narrowed. Among those advancing to the front of the pack was O’Connor, who had previously hosted a TV chat show. So, Brendan, what do you think?