Gavan Reilly: Could Joe Duffy be president?

I suppose we can now officially rule Ryan Tubridy out of the presidential election. Even when the former Late Late host left RTÉ entirely - and then the country - I wasn’t convinced that Tubridy had still ruled out a tilt at the Áras. Keeping a slot on Irish radio on a Sunday tallied with some kind of lingering desire to keep a foot in the door. It’s only in the last few days we might declare the route closed.

That’s only because Tubridy passed on his own imprimatur to another possible contender last weekend… to another soon-to-be-former Radio 1 presenter.

Mind you, his suggestion of a suitable candidate may not be too far wide of the mark. So: Could Joe Duffy be president?

Any of you who watched the Late Late Show on Friday night might have noticed Duffy showing a particular conversational trait. Patrick Kielty would put a question to the outgoing Liveline host of 27 years, and Duffy wouldn’t so much answer the question, as riff on what he saw as its theme.

That, I can tell you with some experience, is a trait shared with the outgoing President. A doorstep or press conference with Michael D Higgins is not so much a question-and-answer session, as an inquiry and a monologue in response.

(As an aside: that’s part of the reason why the President managed to get himself into some bother at the UN in New York last year, when it sounded like he was accusing Israel of leaking a letter he had sent to his Iranian counterpart; we asked him who ‘leaked’ it, and he replied about who ‘circulated’ it. A question is not a thing to be answered, so much as a conversational seed.)

If you watched Duffy’s appearance, you might have come away impressed with his candour, and appreciative of the 27 years he has spent giving platform to those who might otherwise never have had the ear of the establishment. In that sense, the presidential speculation might not be wide of the mark: we’ve grown used to the idea that the Áras is supposed to be a forum where uncomfortable truths are said, and uncomfortable neighbours are made to feel more at home. Duffy’s background in student activism could make him a unifying leftist figure too.

There was another deftness to the interview though. Did you actually come away learning anything new about the man? In fact, did he even give any extra insight into his decision to step away from RTÉ? You didn’t get it, because he didn’t give it: neither his on-air announcement, nor his Late Late announcement, actually addressed it.

Which, you might imagine, is a handy way of not having to remind the audience that Duffy’s salary (€300,000 for radio; plus more for other TV projects) is well in excess of the broadcaster’s new pay cap. In fact, the wage he’s leaving is almost equal to that of the president.

Also, note that Tubridy – as with a few other commentators throwing Duffy’s name into the hat – are fellow clients of Noel Kelly…