Who is Ivan Yates? From government minister to political commentator

A former Fine Gael TD and minister, Ivan Yates was first elected to the Dáil in 1981 at just 21, making him the youngest TD elected at the time

Ivan Yates in 2018. File picture: Collins Courts

Ivan Yates has found himself in hot water in recent weeks due to his pronouncements on the 2025 presidential election.

He initially commented that he would have advised Fine Gael to “smear the bejaysus” out of Catherine Connolly before it was revealed that he provided training to Fianna Fáil candidate Jim Gavin. 

Who is Ivan Yates? 

Born in Enniscorthy, Co Wexford, in 1959, he was educated in Dublin and Tipperary and went to college in University College Dublin. 

A former Fine Gael TD and minister, he was first elected to the Dáil in 1981 at just 21. Mr Yates was the youngest TD elected at the time, and the fifth-youngest ever to be elected.

He served in Cabinet as agriculture minister for two and a half years during the rainbow coalition between 1994 and 1997.

While there was some expectation that Mr Yates could go for the leadership of Fine Gael after the resignation of John Bruton in 2001, he opted instead to leave politics and return to work with his family’s betting shop chain — Celtic Bookmakers.

Ivan Yates announces his retirement from politics in 2001. File picture: Leon Farrell/© RollingNews.ie

However, a decade on, the company had gone into receivership and Mr Yates opted to file for bankruptcy in the UK.

During this period, Mr Yates also took up a position as a presenter on Newstalk, hosting the station’s breakfast programme between 2009 and 2012.

He left the station, telling listeners that he was opting out of “my current work commitments, including broadcast media, print media and other commitments, to focus on my financial issues”.

However, just over a year on, he returned to Newstalk's breakfast programme before eventually taking over The Hard Shoulder drive-time slot. At the same time, Mr Yates worked on Virgin Media Television’s The Tonight Show, co-hosting the programme with TodayFM broadcaster Matt Cooper.

He remained on the programme between 2017 and 2020, hosting the seven-way leaders' debate during the general election in 2020.

“I’m wondering has there ever been such a collection of chancers and charlatans put before the Irish public,” Mr Yates asked, questioning the gathered leaders about the honesty of the election campaign and the parties' spending plans.

He left full-time broadcasting behind in 2020, but continued to take part in speaking arrangements and communications consulting. In 2023, he began co-hosting the Path to Power podcast with Mr Cooper.

Matt Cooper and Ivan Yates on their 'Path to Power' podcast. 

This is where his most recent issues have arisen, after revelations that Mr Yates was involved in Fianna Fáil’s presidential campaign. 

The party confirmed that the former minister provided two interview and debate training sessions to Mr Gavin. Mr Cooper confirmed that Mr Yates had been dropped as a co-host of the podcast for failing to disclose this work.

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Meanwhile, a spokeswoman for Newstalk confirmed to the Irish Examiner that Mr Yates' participation in programming during the election is now under review. He was a co-host on the podcast Calling It, which focused on the election.

A spokesperson for RTÉ confirmed it has asked Mr Yates about his involvement in Fianna Fáil's campaign but said the national broadcaster was satisfied no election guidelines had been breached.

He took part in two "pre-election" media contributions but did not appear on any shows in the Coimisiún na Meán election period between September 22 and the close of polls on October 24.