Local lad Diarmuid the star of Ray D'Arcy Show

Olga Aughey

Eight-year-old Diarmuid Staunton from Coralstown opened a special ‘fleadh edition’ of the Ray D'Arcy Show on Tuesday.

Diarmuid who has been introducing the show for the last two years, finally got to meet Ray in person as the show was broadcasting live from the Market Square.

Diarmuid, who is going into third class in Coralstown NS when school returns in September, says he never gets nervous and his dream would be to do a rugby podcast.

“During lockdown we were just looking for ways of incorporating the audience as much as possible, and a really nice way to do it was with our kid listeners who were at home and on lockdown from school,” explained Ray D'Arcy.

“So we got people to send in voice notes on Whatsapp and we put it together with our show jingle and Diarmuid just emerged as this little star,” he continued.

“He got a wonderful response and he brings this lovely lively energy to the start of the show and we couldn’t do it without him now.

“So to have him today in Mullingar for the Fleadh is extra special. He is a wonderful lad. He’s such a little star and for an eight-year-old to be able to get up in front of a crowd, live, is no mean feat.”

Speaking live on radio, Diarmuid who is nursing a broken arm, told Ray how he broke it jumping on a trampoline at his cousin’s birthday party. He said gave a big shout-out to the nurses and doctors who looked after him.

Diarmuid was accompanied on the day by his mum Fiona, dad Enda, and sisters Maeve and Sarah.

“I’m a big fan of the Ray D'Arcy Show,” Fiona told the Westmeath Examiner. “In total Diarmuid has had three different slogans. The first one was ‘Wash Your Hands’, and that’s where it all started really,” says mum Fiona Stuanton.

Huge crowds turned out to see the show, where alternative folk band Moxie provided the musical line-up, and saw the main man Ray D'Arcy put on his Irish dancing shoes!