Cash-strapped RTE spent €330,000 on make-up over the past year-and-a-half.

The Irish national broadcaster forked out €230,000 for slap last year alone — and had |already spent more than €100,800 to the end of August.

The figures released through the Freedom of Information Act reveal just how much it costs to make up the likes of leading presenters Grainne Seoige and Miriam O'Callaghan.

Added to the bill for clothes, the total spent on vanity comes to nearly €800,000.

The overall sums include “hairdressing services, hairdressing and make-up products and other make-up tools and consumables for all programmes including news and current affairs, weather, |entertainment, sport, lifestyles, young people's and other programmes”.

The details show that the largest bill went to the RTE newsroom.

This is accounted for by the large number of staff, including presenters and reporters.

In many cases reporters are issued with mobile make-up kits to ensure they look their best while out on jobs. They consumed €52,192 worth of cosmetics and hairdressing services.

The Late Late Show might have processed a lot more guests but most must have come self-prepared because its bill came in at under €1,000.

Some €466,000 went on clothing and accessories — including €12,800 on former Late Late Show presenter Pat Kenny's suits and shirts.

RTE managed to kit out 60 soap stars for less than €60,000 a year, but then spent around €30,000 on three of its big presenters, despite the massive wages paid to the big guns.

Former Late Late host Kenny was supplied with funds for a lavish selection of clothing during his final term on the Friday programme.

And Ms O'Callaghan's outfits cost €800 a night during her six-episode summer chatshow run.

Staff working everywhere from the newsroom to Winning Streak and children's TV are handed money towards their outfits.

At the same time, the station is undergoing massive cutbacks just to stay afloat.

Figures obtained show RTE spent a total of €332,372 on clothing items and accessories for all programmes during 2008.

Full figures for 2009 will not be available until the end of the year, but in the period January to August 2009, the wardrobe cost €133,911.

The figures also apply to spending on staff and to others such as actors and freelance presenters.

Some are supplied directly with clothes, while others are given an allowance to make their own purchases.

Pat Kenny and Miriam |O'Callaghan were the most |expensive to kit out. The clothing bill for Kenny's final stint on The Late Late was an astonishing €12,845.

Miriam, his summer replacement, was dressed to impress for the pricey sum of €4,790.

She would also have received a clothing allowance for her regular slot on current affairs show Prime Time.

Miriam was, however, given a run for her money by Winning Streak presenter Kathryn Thomas. It cost €12,641 to keep Kathryn and co-host Aidan Power looking like a million euros on the lottery gameshow.