RTÉ presenters Darragh Maloney and Miriam O’Callaghan were kept busy outside their day jobs with a combined 68 ‘nixers’ over an 18-month period, the MoS can reveal.

The extent of outside activities undertaken by some of RTÉ’s best-known stars is revealed for the first time in documents obtained under Freedom of Information (FOI) legislation.

The requirement to seek permission for outside work – whether paid or not – existed before the secret payments scandals at RTÉ last year. But the process, which was not previously fully embraced by all, according to insiders, has been copper-fastened since February to avoid further controversy over potential conflicts of interest.

In response to an FOI request for a list of outside activities approved for 10 of RTÉ’s top presenters, the station confirmed that sports presenter Mr Maloney was given permission for 42 outside activities between the start of last year and the end of last June .

Current affairs presenter Ms O’Callaghan did 26 side gigs in the same 18-month period.

Lifestyle presenter Kathryn Thomas and former 2FM host Doireann Garrihy have each been given passes for 15 outside gigs from January 2023 to June.

Claire Byrne and Lottie Ryan did five and three supporting gigs respectively, while Brendan O’Connor did just one.

The 2 Johnnies, Ray D’Arcy and Hugh Cahill did not seek or obtain permission for any outside activity during the 18 month period.

Mr Maloney, who presents and commentates on a wide range of sports on the national station, has largely used his MC skills in his outside activities, hosting 25 events in that time. Many of these were for awards nights and fundraisers at small sports clubs, while some were for larger concerts such as awards ceremonies.

RTÉ cannot disclose the amount paid for each activity, but some may have been performed for free.

Ms O’Callaghan’s 26 foreign Prime Time host gigs have included 12 as a presenter or MC, around half of them for charity.

There were three awards presentations as well as releases related to charitable causes. Ms O’Callaghan was also given permission to switch on the Christmas tree lights at Laura Lynn Children’s Hospice last year.

Of Kathryn Thomas’ 15 sanctioned outside activities, eight were related to MCing events. These included corporate awards ceremonies and events for companies such as KPMG and Deloitte. The Carlow presenter has also sought permission for charity and school events and an appearance in Niall Breslin’s Where Is My Mind? podcast.

2FM presenter Doireann Garrihy has left was given permission for several activities, including two MC-ing awards and one for a gala dinner. Radio presenter Brendan O’Connor’s only permission was for “a short question and answer session” after a screening at the Irish Film Institute.

The MoS was rebuffed in attempts to find out which RTÉ star won €10,000 for a “nixer” earlier this year.

When the national broadcaster published a report on its new external interests register in August, it did so with names and sums of money redacted because of advice from the Data Protection Commission.

But the report showed that “less than 1%” – meaning one – of the 133 activities approved in February and March had a payment of more than €10,000.

Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty previously told the Department of Labor that he was not the person who received the €10,000 payment. When we asked each of the stars included in our Freedom of Information (FOI) request if they were the ones with the €10,000, they each left it to a spokeswoman for RTÉ to say on their behalf: “RTÉ does not has other comments to make outside. of information already given in the referenced FOI.”

Half of RTÉ’s previously published external work was recorded as having no payment or benefit for staff or contractors.

About 26% earned the employee €1-1,000, 22% earned between €1,001 and €5,000, and 1%-2% were paid between €5,000 and €10,000.

Additional reporting by Ken Foxe