Mary Kielty, mother of Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty, dies ‘peacefully’ at home

A requiem Mass will take place in Co Down on Monday for Mary Kielty, the mother of The Late Late Show host Patrick, after she died “peacefully” at her home on Saturday.

Mrs Kielty, who was in her 80s, was predeceased by her husband Jack and her three siblings. She is survived by her sons John, Patrick and Cahal, her daughters-in-law Moyà, Catherine and Nichola, her seven grandchildren, and her brother John O’Hare.

A notice on FuneralTimes.com reads that Mrs Kielty will be “sadly missed and lovingly remembered by her entire family circle, neighbours and friends”. Her remains will leave her residence on Monday at 12.45pm for 1pm mass in the Church of the Sacred Heart, Dundrum. Burial will follow in the cemetery of the Immaculate Conception, Aughlisnafin.

Mrs Kielty became a widow in 1988 when her husband John “Jack” Kielty, who was employed as a building contractor, was shot dead by members of the Ulster Freedom Fighters (UFF). He was 44 years of age.

Patrick was 16 when his father was murdered. In 2023 he told the BBC documentary series Once Upon a Time in Northern Ireland that they only found out later why Jack, a Catholic and Gaelic football club chairman, had been targeted.

“Rather than pay protection money to loyalist paramilitaries he decided to go to the police,” Patrick said.

In September of last year Patrick told Belfast Live how proud his mother was of all her sons.

“What’s funny is if she’d be out at Mass, people would go, ‘Your son’s doing very well, you must be very proud of him.’”

“And she goes, ‘well I’ve three sons now, which one are you talking about?’”

He said that his mother liked watching The Late Late Show “from her sofa in Dundrum”. He added that his mother was always offering to do jobs for her grown-up sons.

“You do get a lot of offers like ‘Do you have any washing?’ and I would be like ‘Well no, no that’s done, I’m 53, mum.’”