{"id":541636,"date":"2026-07-09T21:11:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-09T21:11:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/541636\/"},"modified":"2026-07-09T21:11:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-09T21:11:15","slug":"bakhurst-says-late-late-show-host-kielys-salary-is-no-more-than-e250k","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/541636\/","title":{"rendered":"Bakhurst says Late Late Show host Kiely’s salary is no more than \u20ac250k"},"content":{"rendered":"

RT\u00c9 director general Kevin Bakhurst has indicated that Late Late Show<\/a> host Patrick Kielty\u2019s base salary is no more than \u20ac250,000.<\/p>\n

During an appearance at the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC), Mr Bakhurst said \u201cno one is employed directly on more than director general\u201d, but there could be other costs allocated for wardrobe and transport.<\/p>\n

Following the financial scandal that engulfed the national broadcaster in 2023, Mr Bakhurst vowed that no one would be paid more than the director general’s salary<\/a>, which is currently set at \u20ac250,000.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 announced earlier this week that Mr Kielty would host the Late Late Show until 2028<\/a>. It followed uncertainty over whether he would remain on the flagship show following the expiration of his previous agreement.<\/p>\n

Fine Gael TD Joe Neville noted that Mr Kielty\u2019s contract was renewed and questioned how his salary was decided and whether his contract included \u201cperks\u201d such as transport costs.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn terms of the salary itself, I said in 2023 no one would earn more than director general,\u201d Mr Bakhurst said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo one is employed directly on more than the director general.\u201d He also confirmed that there were no \u201cside deals\u201d or \u201cside letters\u201d guaranteeing additional income for anyone working for RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n

In 2024, the Government agreed to provide \u20ac725m to RT\u00c9 between 2025 and 2027. It committed to providing a top-up to the broadcaster\u2019s licence fee revenue each year so that RT\u00c9 would receive \u20ac225m in 2025, \u20ac240m in 2026, and \u20ac260m in 2027.<\/p>\n

In his opening statement, the DG said he would \u201cstrongly appeal\u201d that the current funding arrangements are repeated when it comes up for renewal in 2027.<\/p>\n

This is despite media minister Patrick O\u2019Donovan telling the Irish Examiner earlier this year<\/a> that \u201cunder no circumstances\u201d would that ring-fenced funding arrangement be repeated.<\/p>\n

When those comments were put to Mr Bakhurst by Social Democrats TD Aidan Farrelly, the DG said he \u201chasn\u2019t even started discussions with the minister or with officials yet\u201d.<\/p>\n

Mr Bakhurst conceded that the organisation will require ongoing public funding beyond 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a very wide remit to deliver, much of which actually costs quite a lot of money and makes no money commercially, such as Irish language, arts and culture, news and current affairs, investigative journalism, high-quality documentaries,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of those are cost-free, and they do need some sort of public funding. Now, whether the public funding is via the current license fee arrangement with some direct funding, or whether it’s via a new way of funding it – that is, in the end, going to be a question for the department and for the Oireachtas and for this committee.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut yes, we will need public funding unless we drastically reduce our remit, which is not our intention.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Government top-up will be in the region of \u20ac54.79m this year.<\/p>\n

When asked what kind of top-up would be required in 2028, Mr Bakhurst agreed that it might be \u20ac65m, depending on inflation.<\/p>\n

He said there is a \u201cloophole\u201d where people can watch RT\u00c9 on the player without having to buy a TV licence. He argued that legislation needs to be \u201cfuture-proofed\u201d through a household charge, a reformed licence fee or another form of income.<\/p>\n

Downsizing plans at Montrose<\/p>\n

Mr Bakhurst confirmed that RT\u00c9 is currently in the middle of a plan to downsize its Montrose campus and to only use one end of the campus and dispose of the rest. He said the campus should be smaller within the next seven years, with the broadcaster intending to seek permission from the Government to sell land in Donnybrook.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The plans to downsize will go to the RT\u00c9 board \u201cin the coming weeks\u201d.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 has confirmed it will attempt to reduce its headcount by 400 by 2028. There were 67 redundancies in 2025, with 30 other roles suppressed. There are plans to make between 40 and 60 redundancies for this year. Some 170 people are due to retire before 2028.<\/p>\n

Fine Gael\u2019s James Geoghegan questioned how RT\u00c9 planned to reach the 400 numbers with so few staff members being given redundancy.<\/p>\n

Mr Bakhurst said there will be larger numbers of exits in 2027 or 2028.<\/p>\n

He added: \u201cIt’ll be a mixture of a number of areas. There\u2019s a number of big calls to make.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne of them is about the future of Fair City and what we do with that.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adrian Lynch, RT\u00c9\u2019s deputy director general, noted there were \u201cup to 400\u201d redundancies planned, but denied he was trying to \u201cwalk back\u201d the commitment to reduce the headcount.<\/p>\n

When asked what the \u201coptimal\u201d number of employees in the organisation would be, Mr Bakhurst said this would \u201cdepend on the remit and depend on the introduction of new technology and the introduction of AI and so on\u201d.<\/p>\n

When asked by Mr Farrelly what jobs could be taken by AI, Mr Bakhurst said \u201cit\u2019s not entirely clear yet\u201d, but that the organisation is \u201cnot going to generate journalism via AI\u201d.<\/p>\n

The DG also argued that RT\u00c9 cannot concentrate solely on making \u201ccheaper programmes\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re not in the business of being cheap as chips,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re in the business of providing high-quality content.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

He also defended the use of professional drivers for guests, denying that they are \u201climousines\u201d but must be used rather than taxis for high-profile guests.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re a professional broadcaster. If you’re going to attract top talent and top guests, then you have to provide a decent service when they get there,\u201d Mr Bakhurst added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RT\u00c9 director general Kevin Bakhurst has indicated that Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty\u2019s base salary is no…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":541637,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[943,93,61,60,6085,7539,282],"class_list":["post-541636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-cost-of-living","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-rte","tag-the-late-late-show","tag-tv"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541636","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=541636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/541636\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/541637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=541636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=541636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=541636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}