1997 The Late Late Show Gay Byrne Daughter Death Episode

Angels and the fates at play…

So sad rest in peace

I always thought I never really got poetry but that felt very relative.

Bizzare! Only the Late Late could come up with something like this!

The tone of his voice made it come across as he was trying to be funny at the start and why did she die

we have to STOP using cars

I watched this with my late mother. My own brother was killed earlier that year. My poor Mam was gutted watching this feeling that mother's pain and shock. R.I.P to all xx

My heart broke for that poor family. RIP and god bless

For a man who's accent is always on the verge of slipping into britich aristocrat, he embodies Irishness

I actually held my breath when the nun said i dont believe in accidents, thought something inappropriate was gonna be said, gladly not!

Ahh jesus mary and Joseph
Thoughts and prayers
God love them
And may the road meet them with the sun forever on der backs
And may the moon shine on those who wish them at der sides

Thank you for posting this.

Terrible loss, no jokes. But to say god gave her this so everyone prayed for her is a bit rich. I just hope it helped that's all we can really ask for really.

Truly remarkable. I can’t help but think how this would have been grossly mishandled almost anywhere else. A tip of the hat to Ireland and this man whom I’ve never seen before. Well done!

"your card got picked tonight because god wants us all to pray for you"

OH SO GOD CONTROLS WHOSE CARD GETS PICKED BUT IT'S NOT ITS FAULT SHE'S GONE? religion is so fucking insulting

🩵💔🩵

I was watching at home that night. It was so shocking. 😢

What a gentleman!

Those watching thinking the presenters tone of voice is inappropriate must remember people have there “show voice” he was still in show mode when he got that call. In my experience you can forget your in it very easily.

Rita being from togher in cork city says pretty much all that needs to be said about the intrusiveness. It is a form a grieving in this part of the world. A saying down here is a problem shared is a problem halved.

What's Guy Fawkes doing in the background. Is he a guest?

A fantastic show, a great TV personality.

Extraordinary circumstances. Quite extraordinary.

Guests on the panel were: A nun, a poet, and the undertaker spirit of death himself.

I’m Canadian but 100 Irish and still have lots of relatives there. We are great at handling death and also at poetry. Rip.

what an incredible chance encounter. holy shit. genuinely, what were the odds that the first caller was going to be disqualified?

Why is there a nun in the panel

I've never liked Gay Byrne. Always came across as smarmy..........

I saw this video a day ago. It's already in my secret 'head file' of personal favourite pieces of media, literature, art, or anything. It sits among a handful of things in my head museum that bring about in me a certain glow that will carry me through dark nights. I know I'll come back here for years for the same comfort, the same anguish and redemption that I have known tonight. God love us.

1997? God damn feels like it was shot in the 80s

Incredible content composure and grace. Imagine this kind of dignity in 2023?

Possibly the most Irish thing I’ve ever seen

Hmm. Dunno if the thumbnail matches the vibe on this one.

HANLEY (Togher, Cork): On September 16th, 2021, peacefully, at the Mercy University Hospital. RITA (née McCarthy) dearly loved wife of the late Noel and much loved mother of Steven, Paul, Neal, Valerie, Sonya, and the late David, Lynda and Ruth, and loving sister of Florrie, Chrissy, Len, Alec, Denise and the late Olive and Nuala. RIP Rita

"i dont believe in accidents" i thought that was going to go in a LOT worse a way for a second

We rarely see crueler irony.

I remember this,it was crazy

Gay Byrne was an amazing man. He is greatly missed x

Grew up not even 20 meters away from the spot on Togher road she passed. I knew Rita as a customer of my mothers. Never new until this moment that this happened on RTE. Unfortuantly the same spot on the road has taken many pedestrian lives over the years. RIP Rita.

I can only imagine how much this grieving mother needed this, not the prize itself but the empathy of everyone in the studio, letting her know their hearts were with her and the rest of her family. Genuinely one of the most beautiful TV captures i've seen

Hold on. Irish talk shows have nuns?

why didn't they say-- I am so sorry for your loss... again and again. :-(

He was brilliant x

We live on, with strength,🙏🙏 allowing for all the setbacks.

Shown on Friday 2nd May 1997

You couldn't make that shit up. I'm let down by the abracadabra sponsor on Gays behalf but Im not let down by RTE to let that run and the guests were absolutely great. (He should have fucked off the sponsor but then hind sight is 20/20 and to be fair he did have a job to do, as goes the saying, the show must go on)

anyone know where i can get that poem

One of the most iconic moments in Irish tv. Purely beautiful, as shes crying to the poem...holy shit what a nation we Irish are

I was watching the Late late the night this happened and I cried, two years later I cried again when my beautiful brother met the same fate. I didn't really know the pain Rita was going through until it came to our home. God bless Linda and my brother Martin ☘☘

Rita died Sept 2021, and Brendan died a month later.

I was never a fan of Gay but I have to admit he was very sincere in the way this unfolded🙏