RTE’s Director General Dee Forbes said she will consider changing the format of the Late Late Show after Ryan Tubridy leaves the show.
Ms Forbes – who is also due to leave RTE – said the success of the Late Late Show was a “true testament” to Ryan at the helm.
But she said TV bosses may consider changing the format of the show, in the wake of changes to viewers' attitude when watching TV nowadays.
Speaking to Bryan Dobson on the News At One, she said: “Look, it’s a TV phenomenon and I think you talk to anybody around the word involved in live television and they look at it with eyes wide open wondering how can this happen and again Ryan and Graham Norton regularly talk about this in the UK for example.
“The world has changed. The world when Ryan began 14 years ago is now completely different and we are looking at a lot more fragmented viewing, people are viewing in different ways but the engagement with the Late Late is second to none but again people watching live or watching catch up.
“The way people are watching and listening hasn’t changed and obviously we’ll now sit down and we’ll have a look at what’s next and who is next in that seat.”
Paying tribute to Ryan, she said: “It’s a testament to him the reaction we are seeing and hearing today that he has touches the national psyche every Friday night.
"I’ve worked with him for seven years and it has been an absolute privilege to see someone of his calibre every Friday night to present a live TV show for over three hours on some occasions.
“I think when we saw during the Covid, he was there in the studio on his own and he kept the nation in the palm of his hand and I think what he has done with the Late Late having filled very big shoes after Pat and Gay, has made it a place where the nation comes together to reflect on our culture, music, sport, our achievements and sometimes our sorrow.
“He really has made the Late Late that place where we come together on Friday night and we reflect,” she added.
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