Ryan Tubridy has spoken of his grief after Ireland woke up to the news of a horrific mass shooting at a primary school in the United States.
A teenage gunman opened fire and killed 19 children and two teachers at the Robb Elementary School, in Uvalde, Texas on Tuesday.
The shooter, who has been identified as Salvador Ramos, is also believed to have shot his grandmother dead before the rampage.
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Tubridy said: "It's just too grim for words to try and fathom what happened over in America. Waking up to that headline on the radio this morning my heart sank."
Speaking on RTE Radio One on Wednesday morning, Tubridy said he found it very hard to even "look at or read" calling the shooting a "massacre of innocence".
He said: "19 children aged between seven and nine. I feel sick even saying that but that's what it is.
"We heard the report on the news there that it was quiet for so long and then they heard the sounds of parents being told what's happening.
"You take a breath now. I need to take a breath now... To think about the enormity of just how sad it is."
He went on to talk about "the joy" in the lives of parents in Ireland who brought their children to school this morning "without any fear".
He added: "[We] drop them off into the safety of the teachers and the students in the gun-less world we live in largely here as opposed to those poor people in America.
"They called him a man. The boy was 18-years-old. He's hardly a man. He hit 18 and went to the gun shop because he was allowed legally.
"The right to bear arms - this 'heavenly, god-given right' as they see it unfortunately in America.
"It was his right. And for whatever reason, he killed his grandmother and [he went] back to his old school [and killed] 19 children and two teachers."
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