Suzy and Crona Byrne shared some special memories of their dad, broadcaster Gay Byrne, on The Late Late Show, including one particularly “mortifying” moment.
Speaking on RTÉ One’s Late Late Show, Suzy Byrne told Ryan Tubridy that during their teenage years, there were times when it was quite embarrassing that their dad was a well-known radio and TV presenter, especially when he used the airwaves to stop her from going to a teenage disco.
She said: “In teenage years it is just mortifying. We had a particular incident where myself and my friend Ger… we were desperate to go to Welsey disco, just desperate. So myself and Ger thought this was fantastic, we would go and then we get a lift home from Donnybrook.
“So we set about the plan and informed dad that we would be getting a lift home the next Friday. A couple of days later in school, I go in and there is silence and everyone is furious with me. This whole thing comes out that there was this big investigation on the Gay Byrne hour and everybody was barred.
“A few people had written in with concerns over the goings-on in Wesley, so when Suzy decides she wants to go he decides well let’s just see what this is all about. So he sent his team.
“They monitored people being dropped at Wesley, they monitored the people who got on the bus to into town after their parents left, the drinking, people changing their clothes, they snuck around the back of Wesley and they monitored the kissing on the dancefloor
“It was horrendous.”
Suzy then explained when confronted her dad over the investigation. “He said, ‘What’s the problem, they did a very good piece. I am very pleased with what happened and I don’t know what you are getting upset about, because there is no way in hell you are going anywhere near the place.'”
