Patrick Kielty has the "opportunity to normalise the inclusion of northern voices" on the new-look Late Late Show, it has been suggested.
The comments from campaigner and writer Emma DeSouza come after issues have been raised about the number of guests from Northern Ireland appearing on the RTÉ show since it was re-launched last month.
Guests joining the Co Down host have included former Belfast boxer Carl Framptom, Coleraine-born actor James Nesbitt, Derry footballer James McClean and Belfast-born former president Mary McAleese.
There have been reports that some staff working behind the scenes of the show have raised their concerns about a large proportion of northern guests since Kielty took over.
In one, the Irish Daily Mail reported that a source had said "a pattern is emerging where there seems to be a higher quota of guests from the north than the rest of the country".
But Ms DeSouza, who has previously campaigned for Irish citizenship rights, said it is important that Kielty is bringing "northern representation" onto the show.
"I think it is quite clear that Paddy Kielty is being deliberate in including more northern voices and really is a torch-bearer for us in the north at the moment because he has an opportunity to normalise the inclusion of northern voices," she told The Irish News.
"It is really important the people he is bringing onto the show, as often when we see Northern Ireland presented in the media it is in a negative light or because something went wrong in Northern Ireland.
Read more:
- RTÉ confident over Kielty as viewing figures show drop from Late Late Show debut
- Patrick Kielty says he left Dundrum pubgoers waiting for mention on RTE
- Late Late: Kielty's heart and humour wins over viewers in RTÉ debut
"But what Paddy Kielty is doing is that he is broadening things out."
Ms DeSouza suggested that the division still evident today between north and south "stems from the legacy of partition".
"As someone who has worked as a cross-border worker and who writes often for a southern audience, I do think there is an 'othering' of people in the north that exists in the minds and hearts of some people in the Republic of Ireland," she said.
"It's rooted in this idea that people born on the other side of the border are somehow less Irish than those who were born in the six counties.
"I think that stems really from the legacy of partition and the divergence between what it meant to be Irish in Northern Ireland and what it meant to be Irish in the Republic of Ireland over the past 100 years.
"What partition achieved was that it separated not just people geographically, but people politically in their own minds.
"I think that is the root cause and I think it's further fostered by the landscape we have today.
"There is not a lot of representation for people from Northern Ireland in the Republic and that's not just in the media landscape, but also at a political level.
"I think about how many voices we have in Seanad Éireann, for example, that could represent northern voices, so there is a lack of space created and a lack of normalising the presence of northern voices in the Republic of Ireland.
"Given the context of what we are currently living in, with the impact of Brexit and shifts in conversation about constitutional change, there is a real need to increase that representation so that we can build understanding.
"My view is that often there is this idea that Northern Ireland is this deeply divided society and people are deeply divided, I think the greatest division in Ireland is actually between people north and south.
"There is a disconnected understanding that people want the same thing, they want a better life for our children and for ourselves - this idea that Northern Ireland is othered, is something that we have to address."
She added that Kielty's inclusion of guests from the north has to be "really welcomed".
"It could be hugely impactful in a very quiet way, I think there will be a long-term impact to normalising the inclusion of northern voices and that's what's being achieved by this," she said.
"The response that we have heard and the tensions we are hearing now about perhaps this not being welcomed in all corners is not surprising to me at all that there would be this kind of tension.
"Hopefully it won't deter Paddy and the team from ensuring that northern voices continue to be represented, I know certainly if there is a dip going forward, I will be deeply disappointed."
