It may have shocked the nation, but Gay Byrne was not at all surprised by Terry Keane's revelations of her affair with Charlie Haughey.
"It was no great astonishment for me," he said, adding that he had been aware of the affair for many years. "It astonished a lot of people, though, that she was prepared to talk about it on air."
The broadcaster had no regrets about the interview. "The story was going to be told, if not on the Late Late on Kenny Live, or Marian or Joe Duffy. We negotiated very early."
Gay was speaking last night in the Berkeley Court Hotel in Dublin, where he was surrounded by about 400 people. They were attending an RTE-hosted dinner honouring his 37 years with the station. Those present included past guests of his programmes, politicians, other RTE stars, researchers, friends and of course his family. The Taoiseach, Mr Ahern, arrived later in the evening.
The veteran broadcaster said he was not surprised by the reaction over the weekend to Terry Keane's revelations. "I thought the reaction would be what it was. She wanted to tell her own story. Obviously, she has done a big deal with the Sunday Times - very lucrative, I hope for her . . . she has to see about her situation. She delivered what she said she would deliver."
Gay was thrilled that RTE had thrown such a grand bash in his honour. He said "the DG's gig was a wonderful tribute to the two programmes and the people who worked on them". The pressure in the run-up to the last Late Late on Friday he admitted was "colossal".
In his tribute to Gaybo the director general, Mr Bob Collins, told the guests that Gay was "unsurpassable, incomparable". He said he had made an extraordinary contribution to RTE, to broadcasting and to Irish society. Mr Collins told the story of an article which had appeared in the Southern Star newspaper in 1977. A local UDC had attacked an item on the Late Late Show. Standing orders were suspended and a councillor told the meeting it was the "filthiest story he had ever heard in his life".
The chairman had not heard the programme and asked to be told what exactly was said in the offending item. "But the councillors indignantly refused to even re-tell it," he said. Asked if Friday night's interview with Ms Keane could have been considered distasteful, he replied: "They said it first in 1962."
Gay said that he wants the Late Late to continue. It had always been his opinion that it should stay on air with someone else doing the job. "But, he pointed out "it ain't my problem, and ain't going to be my problem."
Asked how he was going to top last Friday night this week - his final programme - he said he isn't even going to try.
"We're not. We're just going to have a party."