Ryan Tubridy has revealed that he’s planning to invite homeless children on to this year’s Late Late Toy Show.
The Late Late host wants less fortunate children to know that they’re still being thought of, as he spoke about the current housing crisis.
Speaking to the Irish Sun, Ryan said, “I want to remember kids who might feel a little left out. By that I mean I want to remember kids who might be having trouble at home, and who are unfortunate enough not to have a big fire, popcorn and the things that normally happen in the house.
“This is something we will be looking into but we will have to protect their dignity. Even if they were to appear on the show, for example, as homeless children we will have to be very mindful of where they are coming from to protect the family and their own circumstances.”
“I want to remember kids who are not living in a house. I think it’s really important that kids who don’t have a voice get heard and I feel I have a role in that.
“I think it’s really important they know that whatever is happening in their world they are being thought of and hopefully the place will be kinder to them.
“What I am trying to do is make it a solution by saying ‘we hear you, we know you are there and we are going to fight for you’. I think the difficulty is if you ignore the problem then you are forgetting them and I don’t want to ignore them.
“I’ll be launching the Vincent de Paul Christmas campaign in two weeks and I will be talking at that about children and about how, in the last few months, my heart breaks when I see news reports.”
“The current crisis bothers me, actually really bothers me. This upsets me. It’s just not fair. Children are sick in their stomachs, they are sad, they are worried and it’s desperate.
“I don’t know if we can do anything about it but I can’t ignore it, it’s too sad,” he added.
Yesterday, applications opened for Toy Show tickets – and there’s only 200 seats available for the show, which will air on December 1.
Last year, at least 140,000 people applied for Toy Show tickets.
