Patrick Kielty to earn €250,000 per year for hosting Late Late Show 

Patrick Kielty has signed a three-season deal to host The Late Late Show beginning this September. He also said he will be covering his own flights and accommodation costs

Patrick Kielty.

Patrick Kielty has said he will be paid €250,000 per year to host The Late Late Show.

The presenter disclosed the information just moments before RTÉ officials were to go before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to discuss 'secret payments' of €345,000 made to Ryan Tubridy across the years 2017-2022.

In a statement, Mr Kielty said: "I’m pleased to finally be able to share that I’ve signed a three-season deal to host The Late Late Show beginning this September.

"I’m being paid €250,000 per 30 show season. If additional shows are requested by RTÉ, they’ll be paid on a pro-rata basis.

"I’m also receiving a one-off payment of €20,000 to cover the pre-production and rehearsals from now to September.

"The contract allows me to submit flight and accommodation expenses, but I’ve waived this. I’ve made it clear to RTÉ that I will be covering my own flights and accommodation costs.

"I’ve also asked RTÉ to carbon offset my flights.

"I genuinely hope this helps clarify things going forward. I can’t wait to get started."

Meanwhile, the Taoiseach has said Mr Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly should appear before Oireachtas committees if asked. 

Speaking in Brussels this afternoon, Leo Varadkar said the PAC and media committee were working to get to the bottom of the "clandestine payments" at RTÉ and both Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly, as well as former director general Dee Forbes, "may have a story to tell".

“RTÉ executives and board members have come to an Oireachtas committee to answer questions.

“There are other people who could shine a light on this, and they include Ryan Tubridy, they include his agent and they include Dee Forbes. And I still think they should be willing to come before the committee and answer questions.

“There are procedures, they will be treated fairly and I think that would be the right thing to do from their part. They may have a story to tell and I think it’s right that they should be allowed to tell their side of the story.” 

However, Mr Varadkar said that RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh does not need to resign despite not telling Media Minister Catherine Martin that she had asked Ms Forbes to resign.

Ms Forbes quit on Monday having been suspended the previous week. 

The Taoiseach added that RTÉ must give "full and frank answers and information" at the PAC on Thursday in a bid to rebuild trust with the public.

Wednesday's appearance at the media committee left politicians with many outstanding questions about pay arrangements at RTÉ.

Mr Varadkar said Ms Martin is finalising the terms of reference for the Government's external review of the broadcaster and it could be signed off on Friday. Ms Martin is also approaching a person to head up the review, Mr Varadkar said.

In terms of funding, Mr Varadkar said that reform of the licence fee was a "separate matter" to the payments to Mr Tubridy.

He said that the Government is committed to funding public service broadcasting and that there was "more to this than RTÉ".

He said that the country needed a collection method for the fee that was "modern and efficient" and that the distribution of this money must not all go to RTÉ.