Ryan Tubridy left listeners in tears after an emotional moment on his RTE radio morning show.
The Dubliner played Buddy Holly's 1958 classic Raining in My Heart - and it provoked a huge reaction.
Listeners were moved to tears by the poignant choice of song, particularly given the grim outlook with the pandemic so close to Christmas.
One fan of the show wrote in: "I'm sitting here crying listening to that song.
"I sat in my car crying on Saturday after talking to my only child in Switzerland and she was crying too because she knows the way things are going at the moment, she won't get home for Christmas.
"She always comes home no matter where in the world she is and I haven't seen her since last Christmas. And it's raining in my heart right now."
And Ryan admitted he was touched by the message, giving a heartfelt and uplifting response.
He added: "The difficulty here is that you are one of thousands of people going, 'What is going to happen with our loved ones abroad?'
"That is going to be really, really hard and there's no dancing around that. There's no magic wand that's going to make it better.
"But we'll work on it, we'll work on trying to keep you up, keep you happy as much as we can.
"I understand your sadness this morning, I'm not going to pretend, or write it off with some glib comment or observation.
"Sometimes it does rain, that is the truth. But the sun comes out eventually, does it not. Here's hoping."
