Simon Delaney returned to the Ireland AM studios on Monday morning.
He’s, of course, no stranger to the Ireland AM couch but this time he was sitting on the other side.
Seven months ago he stepped down as presenter on the weekend edition of the Virgin Media show.
Over the course of seven years, he was joined by Anna Daly, Laura Woods, Tommy Martin and Aidan Power as co-presenters every Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
Martin King, Elaine Crowley and Katja Mia were announced last year as the brand-spanking new weekend presenting team.
Simon left the show to return to his acting and he returned to chat about his new play The Price, which opens at Dublin’s Gate Theatre in two weeks.
Muireann O’Connell and Tommy Bowe were delighted to see their old colleague return.
“It feels strange being back. We launched as Weekend AM back in the day, then Saturday AM, then Sunday AM before Ireland AM,” he told the pair.
“Everyone knows this show is a juggernaut and an Irish TV institution. When they tried it on the weekend it worked and the show was rolled out seven days a week. Seven years later it’s still going strong.”
“It’s very weird being here, and not there,” he added as he pointed to Tommy and Muireann.
He admitted that he had been acting here and there during his time on Ireland AM but chose to leave to give his full attention to acting.
“This particular job came in where I had to be away for five months so I left here. The following week I was in Germany, and then went on to do another show in Belfast. It has been busy since I left,” he admitted.
We’re delighted to see him back.
