CONFIRMED: Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty's next move is finally set in stone as details of his pay-raise negotiations with RTÉ bosses emerge following months of uncertainty

Patrick Kielty is set to reprise his role as host of the Late Late Show for another run, the Mail can reveal, after months of uncertainty about his RTÉ future.

Kielty’s original three-year deal, worth €250,000 a season, expired in May with RTÉ failing to confirm if the Co. Down funnyman would be making a comeback.

But sources inside the station have told the MoS that the broadcaster has signed on the dotted line and is poised to be back behind the desk when the show returns for its 65th season this autumn.

‘Patrick Kielty is coming back to the Late Late,’ an informed RTÉ insider told the MoS.

‘Runners on the show have been preparing for his return, so I’m hearing it’s full steam ahead on another Kielty Late Late.’

Kielty is believed to have negotiated a deal that would see him receive a pay increase for reprising his role in the hot seat.

It is understood that Kielty – who is also a director in a successful production company – negotiated an ‘overall’ package with the national broadcaster.

It has been previously reported that Kielty’s production company, Green Inc Film & Television, had secured the rights to produce a revamped series of Up for the Match, covering both the football and hurling final eve specials,in a deal reportedly worth some €600,000.

Kielty’s own footballing pedigree, having lined out for Down’s All-Ireland minor-winning team in 1987 makes him a good fit and it could also see him host the sports show.

Green Inc which Kielty co-founded with director Stephen Stewart in the mid-1990s, has previously produced hits including The Afternoon Show and Patrick Kielty Almost Live, though Kielty stepped down as a director of the firm in 2011.

His new Late Late contract is expected to see Kielty’s pay rise from the €250,000 he earned last season.

This is a figure he confirmed back in 2023 amid RTÉ’s presenter pay controversy, which erupted after it emerged the station had failed to fully disclose the earnings of his predecessor, Ryan Tubridy.

It comes as the broadcaster awaits Government sign-off on a wider pay increase for Director General Kevin Bakhurst, which could open the door for other top earners, Kielty included, to seek similar rises.

Speaking to the Oireachtas Committee on Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport in May, Bakhurst confirmed talks with Kielty were ongoing, telling members: ‘We want to get Patrick back.’

He added that RTÉ would need a contingency plan in place in case a deal could not be concluded. But station insiders told the MoS those contingency plans will not be needed.

Despite what some critics branded a lacklustre start to his tenure, Kielty has delivered solid numbers throughout his three seasons, with the show pulling an average of 385,000 viewers per episode.

Kielty, from Dundrum, Co. Down, was unveiled as the fourth permanent host of the Late Late in May 2023, taking over from Tubridy and joining Gay Byrne and Pat Kenny in the show’s long and storied history.

Kielty’s ‘will-he-won’t-he’ saga had rumbled on since the season finale in May, when Kielty gave nothing away, signing off simply: ‘That is it from us for tonight, and for this season... This has been the Late Late Show, I’ve been Patrick Kielty.’

A RTÉ spokesperson said: ‘As The Late Late Show reached the end of another successful season, it has an average of 385,000 viewers per episode – 38.2 per cent share with 1.46million streams on RTÉ Player to date. 

'We look forward to the programme returning for its 65th year in the autumn.’