RTE Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty welcomed a host of big-name guests to the studio for Friday night's show including a trio of Ireland's Olympic legends, The Masked Singer presenter Joel Dommett, broadcasting legend George Hamilton, and Green Party leader Eamon Ryan.
As the final guest on Friday night's episode, Minister Eamon Ryan joined Kielty for a climate-focused discussion which also touched on the transport minister's experience with a speech disorder, how his party would work with any other party to ensure green policies, and his travels in his youth.
In a fifteen-minute appearance on the show, Ryan revealed he developed a stutter after witnessing a "a bad row" between his mother and father as a child. Ryan went on to explain that he overcame the stutter when his mother brought him to a child psychologist in Rathfarnham when he was 15 years old.
Using hypnosis, the minister addressed his trauma and later won an award that he revealed was his mother's "proudest possession".
Ryan also detailed how the Green Party will work with any other party to ensure green policies in government.
“We will work with every party,” he said. “This has to belong to everyone. This won't work if it's divisive politics, the way it is in the States.
“So yes, we would work with Sinn Féin. Yes, we work well with Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael. Yes, we would work with Labour and the Soc Dems. It's the time to act and by acting you address the fear, you address this real anxiety people have about the environment, you get out and act.”
Social media users flocked to X, formerly Twitter, to share their predominantly negative views about the Minister's cameo.
“Like a lot of people in the 80s, I went travelling”.
— Sullmeister (@colombo1865) March 1, 2024
Nobody went “travelling” in the 80s unless they had to emigrate, you absolute melt! This guy, like his government, is so out of touch with the average person, it’s literally astonishing. #latelate #rte #latelateshow pic.twitter.com/y8n4fEQMeO
"Leader of the Green party Eamon Ryan"#latelate audience:#latelateshow pic.twitter.com/VSKJoFRpcW
— AD (@AlanDardis) March 1, 2024
Well done to Eamon Ryan on the #LateLateShow. A politician who will go down in history as a visionary and a change maker; and who lives rent free in so many people’s heads…! @RTELateLateShow
— Pippa Hackett (@pippa_hackett) March 1, 2024
Me when I see Eamon Ryan on TV #LateLateShow pic.twitter.com/ewCwbQ7Lap
— Cathal Mac Fhloinn (@CFhloinn) March 1, 2024
Eamon Ryan shot down Patrick Kielty on the suggestion there are serious issues in health care and housing in Ireland. No indication that there is an understanding of the scale of the problems and the real distress being experienced. Staggering. #LateLateShow
— Ruairí McKiernan (@ruairimckiernan) March 1, 2024
Maybe lead by example and cancel the trip to Brazil, so. #LateLateShow #LateLate
— Pilib Ó Nualláin (@philipnolan1) March 1, 2024
#LateLateShow will @EamonRyan just listen to himself..
— Liam O' Caitháin (@cloneywill) March 1, 2024
I was in China.. I was in Dubai.. he off soon on his paddy's day junket..
But I can't light a turf fire
Watching the #LateLateShow.#Latelate pic.twitter.com/ezqSLZbxTM
— AD (@AlanDardis) March 1, 2024
Eamon Ryan might be totally correct about the planet but sometimes I think he's on a different one. #latelate #LateLateShow
— Dónal de Paor ☘️ (@ThePware) March 1, 2024
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