"Gerry was better than Gaybo"

In our interview, Ian says he reckons Gerry Ryan was "probably the greatest communicator we've ever had, with all respect to Gaybo. He was able to do it spontaneously. Gaybo was very prepared, whereas Gerry could go for it on a wing and a prayer, and he was well able to articulate whatever he wanted."

Ian recalls his earliest encounters with the late presenter. "When I went into RTÉ,” he recalls, "he gave me that famous letter - that I’ve still got at home – saying, 'Welcome to RTÉ Radio 2, I wish you the best of luck', and so on, and at the end it says 'just remember, you can't say bollocks on the radio!'

Asked if Ryan Tubridy would make a good replacement he says, "Ryan's had Morning Ireland handing him a huge audience, he's been leading up to another huge audience from Pat Kenny, so he's been kind of cushioned. Now he's exposed. He did the breakfast show before and he was the only one that really threatened us. But I think he was very fresh at the time and people were saying, 'Hey, who's this guy?' Whereas now he’s an established part of the institution that is RTÉ."

In this wide-ranging interview, Ian also talks about Lorraine Keane's departure from TV3 ("If she had taken six deep breaths – like my father always told me to do – and walked out of the room for a while and came back in, she’d probably still be working there"); the health problems which led to his being diagnosed as a diabetic; Eamon Dunphy, Brian Lenihan and Enda Kenny; his desire to take over management of 2fm – and lots more besides…

Read the entire interview in the new issue of Hot Press, out today.