Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland Sam Boal / Photocall Ireland / Photocall Ireland

IN WHAT COULD have become a national emergency, Joe Duffy’s Liveline was briefly without its ‘line’ today.

This afternoon, the RTÉ Radio One show asked listeners to ring in to talk about J1 students and paedophiles:

They were around 15 minutes into the discussion when unfortunately, for the first time in recent memory, the phone lines went down in the RTÉ radio studios – meaning no one could call in and #TalkToJoe.

Poor, stressed Joe was left to joke about ringing himself to complain about the show:

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“Hopefully the jinx will be lifted soon on the phone lines,” he said sadly, before ushering Philip Boucher-Hayes and Fergal Keane up from the RTÉ canteen to discuss Irish Water and NAMA, and taking a quick music break (Runaway by The Corrs and some Van Morrison, if you’re interested).

Unfortunately for Joe, they had to cut the show short and completely vacate the studio to allow technicians to fix the phone lines.

Keep the chin up, Joe. Judging by the reaction, you could be on to something:

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