Eamon Dunphy described Vicky Phelan as the most incredible person he ever met as he paid tribute to the cervical cancer campaigner on RTE's Late Late Show on Friday night.
The veteran broadcaster joined Ryan Tubridy to discuss the upcoming World Cup, but gave Vicky a special mention as he commended her bravery and determination days after her death.
He said: "I interviewed Vicky and she was the most incredible person I ever met. She was brave, she was clever, she was highly intelligent, she was determined, she researched her own condition, she prolonged her life and she never stopped fighting for other women and other families.
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"Stephen Teap's wife died, I interviewed Stephen as well, and most courageously at her worst possible moment, she refused to sign a non-disclosure agreement and she did that for other people. She did that to let the people who had done this to her and so many other women know that they were not going to buy her silence.
"She was the most remarkable person I think I ever met and she makes me feel very proud to be Irish."
Vicky died in the early hours of Monday morning at Milford Hospice in Limerick after a long battle with cervical cancer.
The Kilkenny native, who lived in Co Limerick, is survived by her children Amelia and Darragh, and her husband Jim.
Vicky grabbed the attention of the Irish public in 2018 after bringing a High Court case over how her cervical smears tests were handled.
She was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2014, three years after a smear test result she had undergone was wrongly reported as clear.
Her case prompted more than 200 other women to come forward over misreported smear test results and led to a series of reviews of Ireland’s cervical cancer screening programme CervicalCheck.
Despite receiving a terminal cervical cancer diagnosis, Vicky actively campaigned for better healthcare and better accountability in the healthcare system and co-founded the 221+ advocacy group alongside campaigners Lorraine Walsh and Stephen Teap.
Also paying tribute to Vicky on Friday's Late Late Show, Tubridy said: "Before we do anything else tonight, let me and let us remember Vicky Phelan. I mentioned this during the week but I’m going to say it again because some people are simply too alive to die, and Vicky Phelan was one such person.
"We knew this would end badly, we knew that this story would end sadly but it was, to be honest with you, still such a shock to all of us when the news came through that Vicky had died.
"Our thoughts tonight are with the family and friends of Vicky Phelan. We’re thinking of Darragh and Amelia and Jim, and Vicky’s parents Gabby and John. We’re gonna honour Vicky in our small way tonight, we’re gonna acknowledge the impact she had on this country and women and on families and on the system.
“Through her refusal to be silenced she saved lives. Few people in recent Irish history have made such a profound difference on women’s healthcare and how patients are treated. She fought the system while she herself was suffering.
"She was honest, she was a straight-talker and when she talked, the country listened. So, tonight we’ve lost an ally and an advocate – the likes of which we are unlikely to ever see again."
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