RTÉ’S DIRECTOR GENERAL has said he would “love” to keep Patrick Kielty as the host of the Late Late Show, as he defended extra payments to the star.

Kielty, who recently came to the end of a contract to host the Late Late Show, was paid an additional €23,980 across 2024 and 2025 as he presented additional programmes beyond his standard contract.

RTÉ and Kielty had said his pay was €250,000.

However, he was paid €266,323 in 2025 and €257,657 in 2024.

The national broadcaster said this was because it “required” Kielty to present “some additional programmes beyond his standard contract”.

Asked today why RTÉ had not been able to calculate how many programmes it would require him to host, the station’s director-general Kevin Bakhurst said: “The €250,000 was for the run of the Late Late, and then there was some exceptional ones like the Christmas programme which we didn’t decide at the beginning.

“But there was something in his initial contract three years ago, which was if you did an extra programme then you’d be paid for that programme.”

Bakhurst has previously said no-one at RTÉ should earn more than he does.

He has a basic salary of €250,000 and is entitled to a car allowance of €25,000 and a pension contribution of €62,500.

He is also reportedly in line for a potential pay rise of €20,000.

Bakhurst said there had been “real downward pressure on presenter salaries”, with significant declines in the overall pay in the top 10 – with few near the ceiling of his own pay.

He said there had been “very tight control on it”.

Asked how he could say this when Kielty was paid for additional programmes, the RTÉ boss said it was in the terms of his contract.

There has been speculation that Kielty – who has finished a contract to present the Late Late Show – is waiting for Bakhurst to receive a salary boost from the government before negotiating his next term as host.

Asked if he believed this to be the case, Bakhurst said: “I don’t know – I’d love to get that pay deal sorted.”

Additionally asked if he wanted Kielty to return to the programme, he said: “I’d love to keep Patrick – he’s great.”

Pressed on whether he had a contingency plan, he told reporters: “I’m not going to say that – it’d drive up the cost of some other contingency plan.”

Bakhurst also addressed his own remuneration when asked about a potential €20,000 euro pay rise.

He said: “The DG salary hasn’t been increased for a long time, and I don’t know whether that is in process, but that’s not my decision.”

Asked if Bakhrust pay increase would be approved, Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan said: “That issue is under review with the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform at the moment – and it’s not a matter for me, it’s matter for the Department of Public Expenditure.”

‘Paid a price for transparency’

Meanwhile, Bakhurst said RTÉ has “paid a price for transparency” in response to the recent top-paid presenter controversies.

Bakhurst, who was speaking after a meeting with the Communications Minister this afternoon, said the reaction to the revelations was “not an incentive to be more transparent”.

He said they demonstrated the timetable of events to O’Donovan between the issue being raised, verifying it, taking legal advice, and informing the department before the issue was leaked.

The meeting with RTÉ bosses was called after it was revealed that Derek Mooney has been at least its ninth highest-paid presenter since 2020 – but had not featured in annual lists as he was classified as a producer.

“We have paid a price for that transparency, which is the controversy in the last few days, and that’s disappointing for me, because I do want to drive transparency,” he told reporters.

“I’ve said that all along, and if we pay that kind of price when we discover something we want to put right and put it in the public domain, it’s not an incentive to be more transparent.”

He said the departure of Mari Hurley as RTÉ chief financial officer after 18 months in the role was not linked to the recent presenter payment revelations.

“No, not at all, she went to a really good job in the private sector,” he said after a meeting at the Department of Communications.

“This came to the leadership team and to the board as part of the annual accounts, and the CFO said that she uncovered this issue, so all of us couldn’t sign off on the top 10 until it was properly done, as I just described.

“So it was just part of the normal process of the annual report and the annual financial report. They had to see through the checks and then went through the audit and risk committee and through the remuneration committee and through the whole board.”