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Dublin: 11 °C Sunday 19 May, 2013

No interview slot for David Norris on tonight’s Late Late Show

The Presidential debate on RTE1 tonight consists of short interviews with candidates, followed by debate among all seven – but Norris already had his Late Late interview.

David Norris leaving the Late Late Show two Fridays ago
David Norris leaving the Late Late Show two Fridays ago
Image: Niall Carson/PA Wire

THE SEVEN CANDIDATES for the presidency will appear on the Late Late Show tonight. But while all seven will be involved in the debate, only six of them will be receiving an initial individual interview with host Ryan Tubridy.

TheJournal.ie understands that David Norris will not be receiving the interview in which candidates are allowed to present reasons why voters should plump for them – because he was already the subject of an interview on the Late Late two weeks ago. That interview was a great deal longer than any which the other candidates will receive tonight.

He will, however, be part of the round-table debate involving the seven candidates which will follow the initial interviews. (TheJournal.ie will be liveblogging the interviews and debate for your added fun later this evening.)

The Presidential section will not kick off until part 2 of the Late Late Show tonight, after an interview with Jedward. In a bid to change up the running order in which the candidates appear from debate to debate, RTE are believed to have conducted a draw to determine who goes first tonight. Gay Mitchell will be first out of the traps according to the results of a draw overseen by PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

The Fine Gael-nominated candidate is clearly looking forward to the evening. He – or at least his official Twitter account – tweeted this earlier:

gaymitchelltweet

Play: Presidential Election Bingo!

LIVEBLOG: The presidential candidates’ Late Late Show debate>

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Comments (22 Comments)

  • Karl For President.

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  • Hold on. The Late Late or An Idiot Abroad 2? Hmmm tough one. Nah Tubbers can go swing out of me left one!

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  • PWC oversaw the draw??? aren’t RTE staff paid enough to do it themselves??

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    • Hi Tony, My understanding is that RTÉ are required to have draws like that overseen by an independent observer because of requirements on them as the national broadcaster.
      I think it’s a bit like the independent observer they mention (they used to be from KPMG, if I remember) when introducing the National Lottery draws on RTÉ.
      Essentially, it’s so no-one can turn back around accuse them of imbalance in giving a platform to any of the candidates.

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    • Seriously, Jedward could have done it.

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  • At this stage they should throw Jedward into the election campaign. They are no more annoying than the current candidates.

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  • It is so unfair on the other candidates that Norris will not be interviewed again on the Late Late, every interview he does the worse it gets, he really must have no intelligent advisors around him, he must deal with the letters and tone down the arrogance and pomp, if not he can wave goodbye to essential transfers. Wonder which Mc Guinness will show up ( Chuckle brother) or ( Javier Barden – No country for old men) Mc Guinness, suppose that depends on which Ryan Tubirdy turns up ( Ronan Cheating) or ( Biffo) Tubirdy.

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    • The remaining letters are mainly important to the media and Norris’ opponents. Does his team get that? Why would he give any more hostages to fortune? He needs to close off the issue, but I fear he is so addicted to his own vaudevillian tones that he may not realise that the simplest response is better than round the house monologues. He is unlikely to take any advice from here, but he needs to stress that the correspondence was personal, on behalf of an ex-lover, and was in retrospect unguarded and insensitive to the wrong done to the teenager. He has laid out the gist, a sample, and that’s it. And for those who don’t hold with sampling, next time they turn up at a GP’s for a blood test, have him draw it out. Time to move on.

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  • Yawn. Has the moratorium started yet?

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  • Senator David Norris is a man of integrity – he vehemently opposed Peter Tatchell’s (OUTRAGE) agenda at debate hosted in TCD in 1996. Peter Tatchell suggested that the age of consent be lowered to 12 years of age. Senator Norris was totally opposed to this, recommending a minimum age of consent at 16 years old. He wrote a letter on behalf of his partner seeking leniency not seeking ignorance of the offence.

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  • Norris is a very astute candidate who would do Ireland proud. I will not be following my party affiliation in the presidential election.

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  • I feel like someone is shouting at me when I listen to David Norris. I’m getting tired of him now. Dana was awful too. She can be a bit testy and it’s nice she has actually come up with the rubbish constitution message because last Monday week she had no message at all. MD "Did you know I organised the Special Olympics." Yes, and that’s all she said substantially. GM: Grey man in a grey suit. SG: Spoke some sense and I’ll keep an eye on him. MMcG: duplicitous man who can’t still manage to refer to the republic as Ireland or guess how much his election will cost because it doesn’t matter. No doubt there’s enough money in the coffers after the Northern Bank Raid and the organised crime to run a campaign comfortably and give him a few bob in his shirt pocket over and above the industrial wage he’s talking about. Michael D: Came across as level, experienced and worth listening to.

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    • you wont think it s rubbish re our constitution when we are all answering to the Reichstag .Germany has made a move on overtaking Europe twice before.We have lost a lot of sovereignty between the financial crisis and also we have to doff the cap to Brussels for so many things.We need someone to defend what s left of our Irish Independence.

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  • Who’s Karl that some people are referring to? That said debate was poor. Expected more. When GM said he was motivated and enthusiastic in his closing speech I thought I’d fall asleep due to the tone in his voice. I was all in support of Norris but the letters did damage. He came across as only ok in parts tonight tonight. The very toothy smile looked forced not to mention scary looking. But he’s still has a good chance I think. Micheal D was marvellous and to be honest Sean Gallagher was very good. The two women didn’t do anything for me. Mary D was particularly bland and Dana says she doesn’t even want to be president. Ryan Tubridy doesn’t have a clue how to interview politics and Mike Murphy should take over The Late Late next year. He’d be brilliant.

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  • I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest that the Jedwards will have more charisma than all the presidential candidates put together. Make that all the presidential candidates we’ve ever had.

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  • Enough of this crap
    Scrap the Presidency charade and associated costs
    Focus on our real issues – not this mickey mouse celebrity / ego show –
    Get our people back working

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  • None of the candidates have any charisma for presidency. Norris likes to be heard and just would be the most annoying loudmouth of a president total lacking integrity and rte keep giving more viewing time Danna in fairness with books and pamphlets Ireland needs someone that gives hope and leadership and some sort of intelligence in fairness:))))

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  • E D 30/09/11 #

    Karl for president. we’d be on ever news station every day, all over the world. the recession would end!

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