Ronan Keating @ be guest judge at Dublin

to be guest judge at Dublin auditions of X Factor ahead of his Oz trip
Friday June 18 2010

RONAN Keating is being tipped to join Cheryl Cole as the top-secret guest judge for the Dublin auditions of the X Factor later this month.

The Boyzone singer is rumoured to have been approached about doing a trial run as a judge in Dublin on Monday, June 28 shortly before he jets off to Australia, where he will be one of the mentors on the Aussie franchise of Simon Cowell's Reality TV talent contest.

The popstar is jetting to Oz at the end of this month to join Natalie Imbruglia, former Australian Idol winner Guy Sebastian and radio DJ Kyle Sandilands on the panel.

Rumours that Keating (33) will join Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and his close friend and former manager Louis Walsh on the judging panel at the Irish auditions have been circulating since his Australian X Factor co-judge Imbruglia made an appearance on the UK version of the show earlier this week.

The former Neighbours actress-turned-popstar was a guest judge at the Birmingham auditions on Monday, where she also met briefly with Ronan.

A source revealed: "Ronan is the obvious choice to fill the spot in Dublin because he's helped Louis out on the show before. But it's all about timing. Some of the Westlife guys could also get the gig."

A spokesperson for the X Factor failed to return calls.