‘I won’t die unhappy if I don’t ever do ‘The Late Late Show’. But I won’t say no, I’m not an eejit’
TV and radio presenter Claire Byrne has said she “would like to” take over the RTE Radio 1 show formerly presented by Sean O’Rourke when it is relaunched in September.
Byrne, who has been strongly linked with the show which is currently being hosted by Sarah McInerney, said taking on the role “would change my life”.
“It’s always nice to have your name linked to a job which Sean O’Rourke did and Pat Kenny did, but look, I don’t know. I’m not a decision-maker in RTE,” the 44-year-old said, speaking on the Human Nature podcast.
“I would like to do it, but if I don’t get to do it, I’m grand, you know, and I’m happy,” she said, describing it as a “real privilege and honour” to be linked to the job.
Byrne already hosts The Claire Byrne Show on RTE TV and has previously been a presenter on Prime Time and the Newstalk breakfast show.
The successor to O’Rourke, who retired from his radio show in May, is expected to be announced in late August with speculation that Miriam O’Callaghan, another strong contender, has pulled out of the race.
“That job is two hours a day, five days a week, so it would be tough and I don’t know what it would mean for my TV show, so there’d be a lot of things to consider,” said Byrne.
She spoke of her admiration for The Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy and said she wouldn’t turn down the opportunity to host RTE’s most prestigious programme if she was ever offered it.
“Someone told me one time, ‘never say you don’t want to do The Late Late Show, that’s a bad career move’. I also think it’s a bit rude to talk about somebody else’s job, you know, and talk about wanting that job.
“I wouldn’t rule it out, but at the same time I’m not going to cry if it never happens, and I think Ryan is very, very good at it and he’ll be there for a long time. I’m not going to die unhappy if I don’t ever do The Late Late Show, put it like that. But if it came my way, I’m not going to say no, because I’m not an eejit.”
Byrne admitted that negative comments on social media affect her mental health and caused her to “step back” from using Twitter. “I would bring it home, and actually my husband Gerry said to me ‘why are you bringing these people into the house? You’re bringing them into the house with you when you read that stuff’ and it was a real wake-up moment.”
She now has a private account to read tweets but says she doesn’t look at her show’s Twitter handle or hashtag “because it would be madness”.
“I just wouldn’t do it, I wouldn’t sleep and it affects me, you know, it affects me, so I don’t do it. Sometimes after the programme I catch myself hovering over the Twitter button, and I’m like ‘ooh no, don’t do that’. So, I consciously stay away from it because it’s not good for me.”
Her reason for leaving Twitter was not work-related, she said. It was due to a comment she saw when she became engaged to Gerry, “which I’m not going to repeat”.
“I just thought you know, I have a baby now and I don’t want him to ever see this kind of stuff, and this person has absolutely no right to make this comment and to put it out publicly into the world.”
Away from social media, Byrne says she has faced sexist comments by “ignorant people” in the past but is always ready to “fight back” when necessary.
“I’m quite good at dealing with them. You know, I can’t remember a moment where I’ve kicked myself because I haven’t pushed back, I’m quite good at pushing back.
“When you’re a young woman working in media, you have things said to you by older men about how you look or whatever it might be,” she said. “Like, it’s bulls**t, sorry. It’s bulls**t, it really annoys me that men still think that they can get away with that stuff, and I’m ready for them.”
Byrne, who has three children, says the fight for most women these days is about the lack of support available to mothers.
“There’s basically nothing there for you. You have to hope that your income is good enough to be able to afford childcare, otherwise you’re in real trouble.
“And a lot of my friends who have children around here where I live, it’s the women who work part-time or it’s the women who give up work, because we are the primary caregiver still and the supports are not there.”
During the wide-ranging interview, Byrne also admitted that she burst into tears when she was diagnosed with Covid-19 in March because she feared she had infected her elderly parents Tom and Breda.
“I was terrified, absolutely terrified,” she said.
“I thought I had killed both my parents in truth, because they’re no longer young — particularly my dad would be considered to be in the vulnerable category, and that was my big concern.”
‘I would like to do it, but if I don’t get to do it, I’m grand, you know’