Pat Kenny gets attacked by Angry Audience Member on the Frontline – FF TD Peter Kelly isn’t shocked

The Late Late show guy now has a competitior after Alan O Brien attacked Pat Kenny on the Frontline last night – now he has been backed up by Fianna Fail TD Peter Kelly. Who is Peter Kelly? Read below to find out…

According to FF TD Peter Kelly – that behaviour is not a shock.

While much of what the audience member said was lost in his emotional delivery, he did manage to get the thrust of his message across – that he found Pat Kenny’s pontificating on issues such as social welfare and wage cuts hypocritical in light of the fact that his own huge RTE salary is partly funded by the taxpayer.

Although I was shocked by the sudden manner in which events unfolded on the live show last show last night, I was not wholly surprised. It seems to me that it was only a matter of time before Pat Kenny was challenged on the issue of his salary by a member of the public. The contrast between the current financial position of RTE which is forecasting a shortfall of approximately €68 million this year and the huge sums it pays its top presenters is quite startling by any measure. It was revealed in October that Pat Kenny was RTE’s top paid presenter, earning close to a million in 2007 and 2008. He has since taken a pay cut but is still receiving a very sizeable salary of well over €600,000. Other high earners include Gerry Ryan who was paid close to 700,000 in 2007 and Marian Finucane who was paid 570,000 in the same year for her two weekend shows.

Who is Peter Kelly you say? Well the Longford TD is quite the man – getting Twitter all worked up with his support for RTE audience member Alan O Brien. What does Kildare Street have to say about our character?

Numerology

Please note that numbers do not measure quality. Also, representatives may do other things not currently covered by this site. (More about this)

* Has spoken in 12 debates in the last year — well below average among TDs.
* Has received answers to 7 written questions in the last year — below average among TDs.
* People have made 0 comments on this TD’s speeches — average among TDs.
* This TD’s speeches, in the printed record, are readable by an average 17–18 year old, going by the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level score.
* 2 people are tracking whenever this TD speaks — email me whenever Peter Kelly speaks.
* Has used three-word alliterative phrases (e.g. “she sells seashells”) 51 times in debates — below average among TDs. (Why is this here?)