President Higgins and Johnny Sexton are part of a stellar Late Late line-up this week

The Late Late Show will welcome the incumbent of one the most scrutinised positions in Irish life this week and President Michael D Higgins will also be appearing.

Yep, Ireland rugby captain Johnny Sexton will be one of the star guests on this week’s Late Late Show on which he’ll be discussing his chances of making the Lions squad as well as Simon Zebo’s return to Munster. More importantly, he will be talking about his support for DEBRA Ireland, which was set up in 1988 by families living with the painful, genetic skin condition epidermolysis bullosa (EB). Johnny will be joined by Claudia Scanlon, who will speak about living with EB, and her mother Liz.

As we mentioned earlier in the week, President Higgins will be celebrating his 80th birthday by giving a special interview to Ryan Tubridy on his hopes for Ireland’s future. Higgins turns 80 Sunday.

Kathy Bates, star of Misery, Titanic, and P.S. I Love You will talk about her upcoming role in comedy The Misery Club which she is due to film in Dublin alongside Maggie Smith and Laura Linney.

Singer Imelda May will perform her song Don’t Let Me Stand on My Own, with Niall McNamee, from her new album 11 Past the Hour.

You can catch all of this and more on The Late Late Show from 9.35pm on Friday night on RTÉ One.

READ NEXT: The notorious ‘West Cork’ podcast is now freely available