The great Joe Duffy announced his retirement from RTÉ after 27 years this year. I became friendly with Joe soon after I joined the firm 25 years ago.
He was one of those presenters you’d be happy to bump into in the corridors. He was always full of divilment and took a jaundiced view of some of the more byzantine elements of life.
More than that though, he was always very thoughtful and regularly sent cards he painted himself (one of which I have in the kitchen of my London flat).
Joe was a maestro at the helm of Liveline and made it the town hall of Ireland in the 27 years he presented the show.
I have no idea what he’ll do next and he was an hour off the airwaves when I got messages wondering will he run for the Áras and while he’d be an excellent candidate, the problem is that anyone with a pulse and a profile gets mooted for the presidency. So it’s time to crank up that particular machine before it’s too late
and we’re left with a melange of mediocrity.
Back to Joe… I was a youngster when I heard him as Gay Byrne’s ‘representative on Earth’, the everyman reporter with the gift of the gab and the ability to mix with whoever he met.
He went on to be a wonderful correspondent for a short time and this allowed us see a more serious side to his journalism that went way beyond the bonhomie of his time with Gay.
It was this side to him that most likely landed Joe the Liveline post which he took to with sublime ease. As a former social worker, Joe knew how to talk to people without ever losing his head himself, even if what they were saying was outlandish or exasperating to the rest of us.
The show could be great craic, courtesy of his Vaudevillian throwback Funny Fridays, and it could be important when it ran with a story of national importance or one that pursued a social justice issue. Very few people could or can carry shows that lurch from one such mood and theme to another. They were very lucky to have Joe, and I’m afraid they, like it says in the song Big Yellow Taxi, most likely won’t realise what they’ve got till it’s gone.
Joe is soon to celebrate Independence Day and he’s free to say what he wants. I know Joe well enough to suspect that this isn’t the end of the road and he has plenty more to say and whether that’s on another station or on a political stage, it won’t be boring and I for one would like a front row seat.
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