People of Ireland love 'elegant' Miriam O'Callaghan, says David Norris

"People of Ireland love her," he said, when asked about the possibility she could replace Michael D Higgins.

The failed presidential candidate, who ran for the office in 2011, spoke to Brendan O'Connor on RTE Radio One.

They discussed what O'Connor termed the "burning question" of the presidency and if the Prime Time presenter was gearing up to run in 2018.

"She's a very elegant woman and a very intelligent woman," Mr Norris said. "Whether she would want the presidency or not, I just don't know," he added.

When questioned about whether the RTE presenter would be a good president, the Dublin politician declined to make a judgement.

"I have never known if people are going to be good presidents or not.

"I'm a politician but I'm not a prophet," he said.

"She's an extremely nice woman, people in Ireland love her. I'd need a few months of her in the job to assess it," he continued.

The question of whether Miriam will put her name forward in the next election has been asked of her repeatedly - but she has refused to be drawn.

Laughed

Even Tony Blair's former spin-doctor Alastair Campbell has tipped her for the job and asked her to confirm if she wanted to run when he appeared on her show in June.

At the time, she laughed off his remarks.

"I never even said anything in my life about running for president," she told the Herald recently.

"Who knows what anyone's going to do in two or three years' time? It's miles down the road.

"I don't know where this has come from," she added.

RTE has said it has "robust" procedures in place to ensure that the current affairs broadcaster would not be in a position that could be considered a conflict of interest if she decided to run.