It is "exquisitely embarrassing" to sit and listen to the praise, he tells us. Gay Byrne, the subject of a specially commissioned portrait at the National Gallery of Ireland, is "honoured", "privileged" and "disbelieving".
"It's the culmination of a roller coaster since I came out on pension. It's been a fantastic period for me. I'm an extremely lucky man," the great broadcaster tells us. "Far more than I ever deserved," he says as the waves of love wash over him. You do deserve it, Gay, all 200 guests want to shout out. We all love you. Please show us the painting. But the men in white gloves stand guard at the velvet curtains. We must wait.
"Gay held up a mirror to the country and allowed us to explore ourselves in a way that had not been possible before," says Roy Douglas, chairman of the Irish Life & Permanent plc, which commissioned the painting.
Paddy Wright, chairman of the RTE Authority, tells us that those who wonder about Gay Byrne and "the kind of man he is, can come here and reflect on the man and his talent". The gallery's board of governors and guardians chairwoman, Carmel Naughton, is also glowing in her praise: "It takes a great degree of generosity of spirit to agree to sit for an artist," she says. "To lay bare their souls to public scrutiny is no light undertaking."
John Kindness, the Belfast artist, says it was the surrealism, the mix of fun and seriousness on Byrne's radio programme that he "latched on to" when he was commissioned to paint Gay. He and his wife, Danae, are both here waiting for the unveiling. "He was uneasy at the beginning," he says of Gay. "He's not used to having his image in someone else's hands," but he relaxed after he saw some of the early work. And finally the curtains are pulled back. Guests press forward. And, yes, they like it. "It looks very nice," says James Watkins, Gay's brother-in-law. "He'd be a tough man to capture, all of the sides. It's different. The side view of the face is very unusual."
Kathleen Watkins, Gay's favourite harpist and soul-mate, is pleased too.
Also here is Mary Orr, Gay's sister and her husband, David Orr. Friends include neighbours Hilda Tierney and her daughter, Clodagh Tierney; Catherine Sweeney and architect Paul Sweeney and Kathleen's sister Clare O'Halloran and niece Susan Zaidan, who works in Odlums, are also in attendance. Three of the women who worked with him in RTE - Maura Connolly, Brigid Ruane and Colette Farmer (of "roll it there Colette" fame) are here to see the work too. Also here is Patrick Thomas Murphy, director of the RHA in Ely Place, where work by Breon O'Casey, son of the playwright, Sean, is currently on view.
As to Gay: "It looks exactly like me," he says. But, he agrees, it is always difficult to capture true beauty.