{"id":451632,"date":"2026-05-16T08:23:23","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451632\/"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:23:23","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T08:23:23","slug":"late-late-show-presenter-patrick-kielty-paid-extra-e23000-over-past-two-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/451632\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Late Late Show’ presenter Patrick Kielty paid extra \u20ac23,000 over past two years"},"content":{"rendered":"

RT\u00c9 presenter Patrick Kielty was paid an extra \u20ac23,000 across 2024 and 2025 as he presented additional programmes beyond his standard contract.<\/p>\n

Kielty, who recently came to the end of a contract to host the Late Late Show, had said his pay was \u20ac250,000.<\/p>\n

Figures released by RT\u00c9 on Thursday showed he was paid \u20ac266,323 in 2025 and \u20ac257,657 in 2024.<\/p>\n

Asked to explain the discrepancy, the national broadcaster said: \u201cRT\u00c9 required Mr Kielty to present some additional programmes beyond his standard contract in these years, and he was paid the agreed fees for this work as included in the published figures”.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Taoiseach Micheal Martin on Friday evening defended RT\u00c9\u2019s licence fee as the broadcaster again finds itself in controversy surrounding pay of presenters.<\/p>\n

The Taoiseach told reporters at the Fianna F\u00e1il ard fheis: \u201cWe think the licence fee should stay because we do believe in public service broadcasting.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it matters, and I think media generally matters across the board, and anything we do to support them we need to do \u2014 whilst retaining the independence of media.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cWe don\u2019t want to be micromanaging RT\u00c9 either, or indeed micromanaging commercial semi-states, so obviously the formal decision has to come to Government, but again, there\u2019s a marketplace out there as well and one has to be sensible in how you go about things as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DerekDerek Mooney had not been included in the annually published list as he was deemed to be a ‘producer’ as per the terms of his contract<\/p>\n

It was revealed earlier that RT\u00c9\u2019s Derek Mooney was paid enough to feature among the 10 highest-paid presenters every year between 2020 and 2025, according to new figures from the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

Mr Mooney had not been included in the annually published list as he was deemed to be a \u201cproducer\u201d as per the terms of his contract.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, RT\u00c9<\/a> published its 2025 figures and included Mr Mooney for the first time since 2014<\/a>, saying it had reconsidered what constitutes a \u201cpresenter\u201d.<\/p>\n

It also republished revised figures for 2024 to allow for a year-on-year comparison.<\/p>\n

Mr Mooney featured eighth in 2024 and seventh in 2025, earning \u20ac197,151 and \u20ac202,264 respectively.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 confirmed on Friday afternoon that it had received permission from Mr Mooney to publish details of his full salary between 2020 and 2023.<\/p>\n

He earned \u20ac195,079 in 2020, \u20ac187, 854 in 2021, \u20ac188,885 in 2022, and \u20ac192,592 in 2023 \u2013 all of which would have placed him ninth on the list.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9\u2019s director general Kevin Bakhurst said Mooney\u2019s exclusion from the list after 2020 was not part of a \u201cside deal\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He said the exclusion was seen as a \u201cjustifiable\u201d decision by the organisation\u2019s past management, given his contract as an executive producer, but added the current leadership had taken a different view because most people know him as a presenter.<\/p>\n

Asked if the reclassification was a side deal to avoid pay cuts from 2020, Mr Bakhurst said: \u201cNo, I don\u2019t think it was.\u201d<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 facing \u2018Groundhog Day\u2019, says media minister<\/p>\n

Earlier, media minister Patrick O’Donovan has warned that RT\u00c9<\/a> is once again at risk of losing public trust as another controversy over payments impacts the national broadcaster.<\/p>\n

In a strongly worded interview, the Fine Gael minister said the situation felt like \u201cGroundhog Day\u201d and that he believed RT\u00c9 had \u201cmoved on\u201d after receiving a \u20ac750m Government bailout.<\/p>\n

Speaking on News at One, Mr O\u2019Donovan said he could not understand how someone presenting a programme would not be classified as a presenter.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Donovan confirmed he has instructed RT\u00c9 to provide his department with a breakdown of all workers\u2019 remuneration packages in \u20ac5,000 bands by Tuesday.<\/p>\n

He said this should include not only salaries but details of all aspects of remuneration packages with the broadcaster.<\/p>\n

The media minister warned that \u201cas sure as night follows day\u201d, the latest controversy would damage public trust in RT\u00c9, almost three years after the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis producer, presenter thing, I think is, to be quite honest about it, a side show,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat I want to know [is] what are they being paid in the totality. Don’t be giving me mixum-gatherum titles and saying, \u2018Oh, this bit is a contract, and this bit is for services rendered, and this bit is in employment\u2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just want to know what is the bottom line, hook, line, and sinker. What are the public on the hook for here?<\/p>\n

\u201cI also don’t want to know monies without total packages. I think we’ve moved on way too far from that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"PatrickPatrick O\u2019Donovan says RT\u00c9 risks damaging public trust again amid renewed controversy over presenter payments. File picture: PA<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Donovan said he was canvassing in County Galway on Friday ahead of the by-election and that the latest RT\u00c9 controversy was being raised by voters on the doorstep.<\/p>\n

He continued: \u201cWe’re trying to rebuild confidence. I’m trying to get people to buy the television license. I’m trying to get people to have faith in the public service broadcaster.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re trying to get people to go back into their post office and pay their license fee. And, you know, invariably, people are going to ask for what?<\/p>\n

\u201cHere we are yet again, Groundhog Day, explaining something that, to be quite honest about, I thought after giving the company \u20ac750m, that we had moved on from that, and that we had moved to a position where there was full disclosure.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Donovan said he did not want Mr Mooney to be scapegoated and that his department now wanted to examine \u201ceverything\u201d dating back to 2020.<\/p>\n

He said failing to revisit the top 10 earners lists and total pay packages over the last five years was \u201cnot an option\u201d.<\/p>\n

The comments follow suggestions from Kevin Bakhurst, RT\u00c9 director general, and Terence O’Rourke, chair of the RT\u00c9 board, that top earners lists before 2025 would not be re-examined<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Mr O\u2019Donovan said this was \u201cnot acceptable\u201d.<\/p>\n

When it was put to Mr O\u2019Donovan that Mr Mooney\u2019s pay between 2020 and 2023 would be released by RT\u00c9 if he agreed to it, the minister said that was \u201cnot good enough\u201d.<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, Mr O\u2019Donovan said he also wanted further information on why Claire Byrne and Ray D’Arcy continued to receive payments after leaving RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n

Ms Byrne received \u20ac47,000 for the remainder of the year, while Mr D\u2019Arcy received \u20ac50,000, despite both leaving the broadcaster in October.<\/p>\n

Speaking on her Newstalk programme, Ms Byrne said she had offered to continue working until the end of 2025 to fulfil her contract, but RT\u00c9 did not want her to remain.<\/p>\n

\n \u00a0– additional reporting from PA\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RT\u00c9 presenter Patrick Kielty was paid an extra \u20ac23,000 across 2024 and 2025 as he presented additional programmes…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":451633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[93,61,60,6085,282],"class_list":["post-451632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-rte","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=451632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/451632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/451633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=451632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=451632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=451632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}