RTé's biggest names will take shorter breaks this summer in order to give licence payers maximum value for money.

Where once top stars like Pat Kenny could enjoy the kind of holidays associated with schoolteachers, it's all hands on deck as station talent restricts itself to little more than a few weeks over the summer.

Some have even gone further, with Ryan Tubridy using some of his own leave to feature in RTé genealogy series Who Do You Think You Are?.

Figures supplied by RTé to the Sunday Tribune show reduced holidays are being taken by some of the station's most high-profile broadcasters.

Pat Kenny, having ended his 10-year run on The Late Late Show on Friday, will be absent from the station from 1 to 29 June with one-time possible successor Gerry Ryan taking the same dates off.

New Late Late host Ryan Tubridy will be taking leave from 1 to 22 June and from 20 July to 2 August. Radio 1 presenter Derek Mooney returns from his summer break next Tuesday having been off since 25 May.

Standing in for Ryan Tubridy on radio, Dave Fanning will take his own holidays from 22 June to 19 July.

A station insider said: "People need a break, but there is definitely a co-ordinated attempt to have the regular line-up on air during the summer.

"The summer exodus of presenters turned RTé into a bit of a joke and it had to stop."

RTé's head of corporate communications Kevin Dawson denied the national broadcaster was cutting down on presenters' holidays. He said the shortened leave was as a result of increased production at the station.

"If the impression given is that these holidays seem shorter, our view is that this is the product of a general evolution of the schedules and the fact RTé is offering people more and sustaining programmes for longer runs. For example, The Late Late Show now comes back a week sooner in September and January than it did previously."

RTé is keen to point out that along with their radio commitments, presenters such as Pat Kenny and Ryan Tubridy will be working from early August on TV programmes due to air in September.

"I suppose there is a tendency to think that if someone isn't on TV – where the break is longer, like The Late Late Show, which finishes on 29 May and returns on 4 September – you could think a presenter might only be doing his radio show. In fact, Ryan Tubridy will begin his preparation for The Late Late Show in August," said an RTé spokesman.

Similarly, Pat Kenny will be preparing for his new current-affairs programme, due to air in September, from early August, while Gerry Ryan will film new episodes of TV series Operation Transformation and Ryan Confidential over the summer.

The one exception to the shortened summer holidays being taken by RTé's big names is Marian Finucane; the radio host is looking forward to a two-month break from the station between 1 July and 31 August.

An RTé spokeswoman said: "I believe this is Marian's contractual arrangement. She is a sole trader and would have put in a certain amount of time per year that she takes off."

Meanwhile Liveline presenter Joe Duffy's leave is still to be confirmed due to the time he needed off in April to recover from a broken leg which he sustained after being hit by a car.

He returned to the airwaves on 5 May.

RTE Radio1's Holiday Bookings

Presenter: Gerry Ryan, Off air: 1–29 June, Replacement: Eoin Sweeney

Presenter: Maxi, Off air: 12–25 July, Replacement: Cathal Murray

Presenter: Ryan Tubridy, Off air: 1–22 June & 20 July–2 August, Replacement: Dave Fanning

Presenter: Pat Kenny, Off Air: 1–29 June, Replacement: Myles Dungan

Presenter: Ronan Collins, Off Air: 29 June–20 July, Replacement: Maxi

Presenter: Joe Duffy, Off Air: TBC, Replacement: Damien O'Reilly

Presenter: Derek Mooney, Off Air: 25 May–2 June, Replacement: Aonghus McAnally

Presenter: Mary Wilson, Off Air: 3–31 August, Replacement: Tbc

Presenter: Dave Fanning, Off Air: 22 June–19 July, Replacement: John Creedon

Presenter: Vincent Woods, Off Air: 1–19 June & 13 July–1 August, Replacement: Sean Rocks

Presenter: Marian Finucane, Off Air: 1 July–31 August, Replacement: Rachael English

Presenter: John Murray, Off Air: 7–21 June, Replacement: Dave O'Connell

Presenter: Ruth Buchanan, Off Air: 2–31 August, Replacement: Bernadette Comerford