Virgin Media to host first Presidential Election TV debate

The Tonight Show debate will be hosted by Kieran Cuddihy

Virgin Media Television has announced comprehensive coverage of the 2025 Presidential Election campaign with the three confirmed candidates invited to appear on a special Tonight Show: Presidential Debate next Monday.

The Tonight Show debate, which will be the first of the campaign, will be hosted by Kieran Cuddihy at 10pm on Monday 29th September on Virgin Media One.

Catherine Connolly, Jim Gavin and Heather Humphries will also sit down with Virgin Media News’ presenter Colette Fitzpatrick for an in-depth 30-minute Big Interview.

Jim Gavin will be the first candidate to appear on the Big Interview on Monday 6th October at 10pm on Virgin Media One.

This will be followed by Catherine Connolly on Monday 13th October at 10pm on Virgin Media One. The final Big Interview of the campaign will take place at 10pm on Monday 20th October when Heather Humphries sits down with Colette Fitzpatrick.

There will be a special Tonight Show episode immediately following each Big Interview when Kieran Cuddihy and a panel of expert guests discuss and analyse the performance of each Presidential hopeful.

The Tonight Show will broadcast as normal each Tuesday and Wednesday night during the campaign.

Virgin Media News will also provide comprehensive coverage of the election campaign with Political Correspondent Gavan Reilly updating viewers throughout the day on Ireland AM, News at 12:30, News at 5.30 and News at 7.

There will also be bespoke content across Virgin Media News’ social channels, with reporters offering updates to the digital audience before the country goes to the polls on Friday 24th October.

Meanwhile, RTE broadcasters Mary Wilson and Áine Lawlor signed off on Morning Ireland on Radio 1 for the final time this morning. Today marks Mary Wilson’s official retirement from RTÉ. It was also be Áine Lawlor’s final Morning Ireland in the presenter’s chair; she will continue to present The Week in Politics and will feature across RTÉ’s coverage of the forthcoming presidential election.

Deirdre McCarthy, RTÉ’s Director of News & Current Affairs, said: “Mary and Áine are not just household names, they are household voices, deeply familiar not only from their recent years on Ireland’s most-listened-to radio show, but hugely popular across their long and distinguished careers as reporters and presenters. At heart they have been and always will be journalists, and it is to their incisive, knowledgeable and challenging journalism that we owe them both a great debt, and thanks.”

A reporter, correspondent, editor and presenter, Mary Wilson has spent her career in RTÉ either in front of camera for RTÉ News or behind the microphone on RTÉ Radio 1. From Drangan in Co Tipperary, Mary Wilson joined the RTÉ newsroom in Dublin in 1990. In 1996 she became the station’s Legal Affairs Correspondent, becoming Editor in 2000, and over the years bagged a slew of awards for her news reports and documentaries.  She was the Millennium Journalist of the Year and won a number of Justice Media Awards. In 2006 Mary became the first presenter of the new Drivetime programme on RTÉ Radio 1. In 2020 she returned to Morning Ireland where she had worked as a reporter when she first arrived in the RTÉ. In 2023 she was inducted into the IMRO Radio Awards Hall of Fame.

Now after 36 years with RTÉ, Mary is retiring.  She says: “I know I am fortunate to be able to retire and I am looking forward to becoming a radio listener as opposed to presenter, to taking my foot off the gas a bit and indulging my many hobbies.  More hillwalking, bagging another Monro (a Scottish term for climbing mountains of 1000 metres (over 3000 ft), more cooking, more trips to Kerry and above all more time with family and friends. It has been a privilege to present news programmes on RTÉ, to connect with listeners and to work with demanding, intelligent and dedicated colleagues who helped and challenged me every day to do better, to aim higher and to always put the listener first.”

Áine Lawlor joined RTÉ in September 1984 as a trainee journalist, working on a number of radio and television programmes. She then became a reporter/presenter in January 1988, eventually becoming a presenter on Morning Ireland, which she joined in 1995 and presented for over 17 years. She has worked on The Pat Kenny Show, Today at 5, RTÉ 2fm News and a variety of television programmes, including The Nature of Things, Tuesday File and as narrator for the highly-acclaimed series on clerical sexual abuse in Irish institutions, States of Fear. She was awarded Best News Broadcaster of the Year at the prestigious PPI Radio Awards in October 2012 and went on to be inducted into the PPI Hall of Fame in 2014. In August 2013, she was appointed as presenter of The Week in Politics on RTÉ One television.

In October 2020, Áine returned to Morning Ireland. She says: “It’s been a privilege to be part of Morning Ireland for so many years, to be a part of the programme so many listeners turn to at the start of the day. I’ll miss the programme (though not the hours!). I’ll miss my great Morning Ireland colleagues, and ​most of all I’ll miss Mary, she’s a top-notch broadcaster and a fantastic woman. I’m looking forward to covering the presidential election on TWIP.”

Áine will continue to present The Week in Politics and will feature across RTÉ’s coverage of the forthcoming presidential election.