As the conference season gets underway, with hundreds of meetings, seminars and summer schools scheduled to take place, journalists, TV presenters, economists and former politicians are in high demand for their services.

All they have to do is motivate, empower and entertain the delegates.

Amongst the Irish celebs who charge thousands of euro to share their thoughts on the great issues of the day are economist and journalist David McWilliams, RTE presenters Pat Kenny and Miriam O'Callaghan, and former rock star Bob Geldof.

Geldof, who was given the freedom of Dublin city last weekend, gets 38,000 for each address, according to the JLA agency which represents him, although he will speak for free if the cause is close to his heart.

Cork-born BBC foreign affairs journalist Fergal Keane, who recently wrote about his battle with alcoholism, charges up to 15,000 for what the JLA agency describes as his "relaxed Irish brogue".

Businessman Bill Cullen is also on JLA's celebrity hit list, earning up to 7,500 for telling people one more time how he managed to get from selling penny apples on the street at age 13 to owning one of the largest car dealerships in the country.

The speaker circuit is now huge business in the US and the UK, but despite the Irish reputation for talking, it has only recently started to take off here.

"Irish speakers are no longer content to get a piece of Waterford Crystal for their efforts, particularly when US imported gurus speaking beside them are getting thousands, " says one conference organiser. "Now, any request to an Irish-made guru to speak is met with the reply, 'talk to my agent'."

We are catching on to the potential riches very quickly.

Irish rugby coach Eddie O'Sullivan is understood to have been paid around 20,000 to address the annual conference of the Irish Management Institute recently.

David McWilliams is one of the most popular speakers here, and has his own website where he advertises his availability to chair conferences and "do speaking engagements" . McWilliams can get more than 4,000 for a single engagement.

If you want a top speaker for an event, Mary Menton is the woman to contact. She heads up the Dublin Speakers Bureau and is the agent for the London Speakers Bureau in Ireland. On top of the 3,500 artists available from Britain, Menton is building up a strong cast of celebrity speakers here, including TV stars and economists.

Menton can get you RTE's Pat Kenny and George Lee, as well as comedian Dara O Briain. Primetime's Miriam O'Callaghan, Olivia O'Leary, comedienne Deirdre O'Kane and consumer champion Eddie Hobbs are also on Menton's books and all are in strong demand.

Menton is reticent about the fees charged by her clients but gives a ballpark range of 2,000 to 8,000 for such Irish celebrity speakers. It depends very much on the event, their availability and whether they have to travel, she says. "Some RTE celebrities do charity events for nothing."

Former president Mary Robinson is the top Irish speaker on the international circuit, commanding a fee of about 38,000 for each address. Former Labour leader Dick Spring, who would claim to have set Robinson on the road to international fame back in 1990 when he asked her to run as the Labour party candidate for the presidency, is way behind his protege in the speaker circuit. According to the UK-based JLA agency, Spring can command between 3,700 and 7,500 per address.

Spring is touted by the JLA agency first and foremost as a "Harvard Lecturer on Conflict Resolution" and a "former rugby international".

Only towards the end of his CV is Spring credited with having served as "deputy prime minister of Ireland".

Former taoiseach John Bruton was one of the most highly sought-after speakers abroad after he left office in 1997, speaking mainly on European affairs. Though he commanded a fee of just 4,000, the exposure did him no harm at all as last year he was appointed EU ambassador in Washington.

Since that appointment, Bruton withdrew from the speaking circuit . . . a 'rule' observed by all political office holders once they take up a high position.

While another ex-taoiseach Albert Reynolds is also a regular on the speakers circuit, he keeps to the more lucrative US market, where celebrity event speaking is a multi-million dollar industry. The USbased Corporate Artists agency was unable to give a fee for Reynolds, who primarily speaks about his involvement in the peace process in Northern Ireland.

Reynolds joins an agency list that includes former US presidents George Bush senior, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

Clinton is the most soughtafter speaker around the world. In the US he can command a fee of over $500,000 plus expenses for each address, although when in Ireland his fee is a slightly more reasonable $200,000.

A frequent visitor to Ireland . . . and its golf courses . . . Clinton has been known to do the odd gig for free here.