'Legend Gay is doing great in cancer battle'

The radio presenter (82) has been off the Lyric FM airwaves for several weeks as he continues his fight with prostate cancer.

Gay's wife Kathleen Watkins revealed he had returned to their Ballsbridge home just weeks before Christmas.

"I have been to see Gay recently. Myself and Joe Duffy went to see him. He's in fine form, he still has that Gay Byrne magic that you would expect from one so wise," Ryan said.

Diagnosis

The former Late Late Show host previously said when announcing his diagnosis that he had enjoyed "robust" health for most of his life and that there were many people much worse off.

Just days after celebrating Christmas in 2015, he was rushed to St Vincent's Hospital in Dublin after collapsing with heart problems at his Dublin apartment.

Tubridy was speaking at the launch of his new children's book Patrick and the President, which looks at the visit of John F Kennedy to Ireland in 1963.

"It's a look at the visit of JFK to Ireland as seen through the eyes of a child. I chose Patrick because the first Kennedy to leave Ireland was Patrick," he told the Herald.

"I'm hoping it will get kids into reading and history. It's for children from anything from about five to 10. My kids were involved a little bit in the editing process.

"My plan is to do more children's books. I won't do any more history or anything for a little while."