Irish viewers praised Ryan Tubridy as he used his opening monologue to rally people around Ireland in the battle against Covid-19.
He said: "We're at a crossroads in this country tonight, and the plain fact is we're going to go one way or the other. It's a very simple choice.
"Covid will either run out of control in the coming days, or Covid will be suppressed. That's the choice. It's grim, I know. And, if I'm honest with you, I'm as fed up with it all as you are, believe me.
"But here's the thing: all of you watching tonight, from every home, in every townland, in every village, in every city, in every county and in every province of Ireland has the power to decide where we go, and where we go from here."
TV host Piers Morgan praised the speech saying: "Absolutely brilliant by Ryan Tubridy. Watch it, share it, heed it. Lives depend on it. "
Anne Marie Geraghty posted on Twitter: "Ryan Tubridy nailed it tonight. Absolutely nailed it."
Robbie Kane added: "When Presenter Ryan Tubridy gives an opening pep talk on the Late Late about our current Coronavirus situation in Ireland, it kinda reassures me to keep the faith more than any politican."
Ryan Tubridy continued in his speech: "You did it once before, don't forget that. You decided that you didn't want Covid to savage any more of our beautiful grandparents, or to overwhelm our hospital wards.
"A million children went back to school because you decided that was the priority. And you made that happen by your choices and by your actions.
"And now, as the saying goes, winter is coming. And the graph is going in the wrong direction. And really badly. At the rate that Covid's currently spreading in our communities, we're facing into the spectre of days and nights on hard chairs in A&Es across the country because the hospital beds are full with Covid patients.
"The spectre of intensive care beds filling up with the sick and the vulnerable. The spectre of more friendless funerals, more needless goodbyes, more hurt and more sadness.
"So what I'm saying is, please don't catch it. Please don't pass it on. Wash your hands. Keep your distance. Wear the wretched mask, for God's sake. I'm saying this, not because I read a press release, or because I watched a news report or any of this. I'm saying this because... "
Ryan had tested positive for Covid-19 and was grateful that he didn't have to go to hospital.
He added: "I got that horrible phone call that says, 'Bad news, Ryan, you're Covid positive'. It freaked me out. It was awful.
"Now, I'm not trying to be a hero there; I'm simply telling you I was one of the people. And Covid is a lottery, I've discovered this. Because I had it and I didn't need to be hospitalised. I was really lucky. But another Irishman [Dr Syed Waqqar Ali], pretty much my age, who caught it not long after me, suffered horribly for three months.
"And he died on a ventilator with his wife and his children crying at his bedside. And his daughter [Dr Samar Fatima Ali] sat on that couch two weeks ago and she told us how he suffered as Covid ravaged him.
"Her family are broken. Absolutely devastated by his death.
"And I can't help asking, 'What was the difference between him and me?' And the answer, I realise, is nothing. And until we understand how Covid works, it's a lottery. So why would you take the risk?
"And we're all putting a brave face on it. But allow yourself to smile when I tell you that this will end. It doesn't feel like it sometimes - it's exasperating. It's existential. It's challenging. But it will end, I promise you.
"Until then, I beseech you: please don't let those early sacrifices that we all made so willingly - with pride, with humour and with honour - to be in vain. And don't let the over 2,000 [sic] lives already lost from this desperate, desperate thing on this island be in vain. Don't stop washing your hands.
"Don't stop keeping your distance. Don't stop wearing the masks. Don't throw in the towel. Don't give up on it.
"The vaccine is coming. We're almost there, I'm sure of it. It's a case of... hold ."
