Radio presenter Ray D'Arcy believes Gay Byrne should come out of retirement to present the Rose of Tralee festival.

D'Arcy hosted the pageant for several years but has announced that he will not be at the helm for this year's show.

Dáithí Ó Sé, Brian Ormond and Aidan Power have been linked to the job in recent days but Darcy believes that Byrne, who spent over 20 years as the Rose host, should return.

He said: "Potential successors need to actually like the festival and be interested, and not view it as a new job or opportunity.

"Anyone who is thinking of putting themselves forward should think carefully. There are people who are very cynical about the Rose of Tralee and if you even have a cynical inkling and were going to try and present the show, you'd be better to steer clear as after six hours on screen it would show.

"Given all of this I would like to see Gay Byrne come back and present the Rose of Tralee once again. He knows more than anyone else that it is not a sprint, it's a marathon, and the live show requires a certain amount of application which he obviously has."

Darcy stepped down as presenter after five years, saying he wanted to make his family his priority.

"I will miss the show an awful lot. However, my family have to take priority. We haven't had a proper holiday in five years. The Rose of Tralee was my holiday time. Maybe if I were working for RTE it would be different as I wouldn't have been taking my holiday time, but this is the way it turned out.

"I enjoyed my time as presenter an awful lot, and saw some fantastic performances over the years, some for the wrong reasons, and I always have had and always will have a lot of time for the Rose of Tralee."