Late Late Show presenter Pat Kenny has lost his shirt on bank shares. The RTE star has refused to say how much, but he has revealed that he lost a "significant amount" of his pension after taking financial advice to invest in the stock market.

Mr Kenny, who was one of the first stars to take a voluntary pay cut at cash-strapped RTE, described how he lost the money after investing heavily in Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland shares.

Shareholders in the two banks have seen their investments crash by 98 per cent in the last 12 months.

The Late Late Show host was speaking as RTE announced that it had a €68m black hole in advertising revenue for 2009.

Kenny also revealed that despite his €850,000 a year pay packet, he has budgetary worries like everyone else.

"Everyone has a budget. I have a budget in my house, irrespective of how much I earn," he said. "I still have allocated money for different things. My pension fund has now been affected, like everyone in the private sector, because I don't have a pension from RTE."

Asked if his pension had been hit due to the deepening economic crisis, Kenny said: "Oh yeah, of course it has. Absolutely. I took all the advice that was on offer about Bank of Ireland and AIB shares, of course I did. I have lost a significant amount. I have been affected just like everybody else in those terms. . . . And unlike some of my younger colleagues, I am not too many years away from the time when I will require a pension."

In contrast to Kenny, a number of younger high-profile RTE stars, including Gerry Ryan and Ryan Tubridy, had fought against taking a cut in their massive pay packets.

Kenny also said it would have been hypocritical for him to continue with his job if he was not willing to share some of the pain.

"How could I interview people who were suffering out there if I at least didn't do something to say 'look, I'm making my gesture?'" he reasoned. "It was one of those things. If you earn a lot of money and you take a pay cut, you forego a lot of money, that's not an easy thing to do. If they came back again looking for more, I don't know. I can't really talk about it because RTE don't want us to." Speaking about his personal financial concerns, Kenny who is RTE's top earner with a take-home pay of €850,000, said: "It is ridiculous to think that someone on my income would have money worries."

But he said: "The recession has hit everybody. Don't forget that we're all paying more tax. People don't realise it, but 1 per cent, 2 per cent or 3 per cent -- we're all paying more. Whether it's your petrol or your bottle of wine or your car tax, all of those things are going to go up."

The affable chat show host also went on to describe how he was still getting over his "annus horribilis" of 2008 when he was embroiled in a bitter dispute with his neighbour over a plot of land adjoining their luxury homes on the Dalkey coast.

"I have come out of it battered and bruised. And that's the truth," he said. "It takes a while to get over that kind of experience, but I'm getting there and it makes you reflect on the good things in life. Try to stay healthy, happy, try to enjoy your work, try to enjoy walking the dogs on Killiney beach at the weekends -- all those things."

Asked what he had learned from the past year, Kenny said: "Stay out of the courts if you can." He also spoke at length about his future as host on the The Late Late Show, where he regularly pulls in over 600,000 viewers every week and over a million with the annual Toy Show, saying it is his intention to present the show for "many years to come". However, a conversation with the show's former host Gay Byrne helped him to understand that he would know himself when it was the right time to quit.

"I remember years ago I was up in Donegal and I met Gay. I was heading back for Kenny Live and he was heading back for The Late Late Show. And I remember saying to him 'you must be dying to get back?' And he said 'no, I'm dreading it'. And I said 'why?' And he said 'well, I've interviewed everybody. And if I haven't interviewed everybody I have interviewed people like them.' And if I ever get to feel like that, then that's it," said Kenny.

The broadcaster was speaking at the launch of a bereavement pin for the Irish Hospice Foundation.

The inaugural session of the Forum on End of Life in Ireland is taking place on Wednesday at the Royal Hospital Kilmainham.

- Niamh Horan