Pat Kenny has revealed that Ryan Tubridy “might be back on RTÉ” before the former Late Late Show host himself.
Pat had a 41-year high-profile career with RTÉ, before he moved to Newstalk in 2013 and began hosting The Pat Kenny Show.
Ryan recently moved to London after he secured a new radio gig with Virgin Radio UK, after he lost his RTÉ Radio 1 slot amidst the payments scandal.
When asked if he would ever consider returning to the broadcast station in the future, the 76-year-old told The Irish Mirror: “I don’t know whether it’ll ever happen… I suspect that Ryan might be back on RTÉ before me.”
The host previously opened up about Ryan’s move to the UK and told the publication that the station had “pilloried” the 50-year-old.
He said: “I suppose between the (RTÉ) board and the management, they had pilloried him, even though the Grant Thornton report had vindicated him.”
“They made it virtually impossible to make it in this country.”
“He speaks English, not French — where was he going to go?”
Pat revealed that the former Late Late Show host had “no choice” but to head across to the UK to continue his career.
When asked if he was surprised by Ryan’s move, he said: “Not at all, where was he to go?”
The Newstalk host revealed that he had once received offers from the UK after he hosted the 1988 Eurovision Song Contest from Dublin.
He said: “After I did Eurovision in 1988, I had many offers.”
“I did some stuff for BSKYB, a programme called Intellect, a terrific format of a quiz show.”
“It did exactly what it said on the tin, it wasn’t like, ‘Where is Termonfeckin?’, it was more demanding.”
“And I did that for a season and I did some work for BBC radio, but my decision was to stay in RTÉ — that’s where I wanted to be.”
“In those days, the idea of presenting The Late Late Show was not on my horizon, but that happened.”
Pat previously revealed his plans for a return to telly had stalled.
Speaking to RSVP Live, Pat said: “No. I mean I’ve got ideas but I haven’t time, that is my problem at the moment. But if the phone rings, I’ll certainly answer.”
