Newstalk confirmed they had signed the veteran broadcaster in a tweet shortly before 2.00pm.
Gay Byrne said the departure of Kenny was "a major loss" for RTE and suggested that the presenter "must have been unhappy or dissatisfied in order for him to leave."
Sean Moncrieff insisted that no other broadcasters in Newstalk knew of this news, and said he and his colleagues were "flabbergasted" when they heard the news.
Comedy writer and twitter star Colm Tobin predicted that "Ireland's sovereign credit rating set to soar as the economy escapes from under the crippling weight of Pat Kenny's salary."
Meanwhile, stand-up comic Neil Delamere reckons that the big transfer in Irish radio will be the switch between
Others speculated as to whether Pat Kenny will now be paid more than Giovanni Trapattoni.
The capture of Kenny, one of Ireland's most iconic broadcasters, is a major coup for the Denis O'Brien run station. Kenny's mid-morning RTE show was the 6th most popular in the country, according to the latest JNLR report with 328,000 listeners. By contrast, the highest Newstalk show on the list was 'The Right Hook' which can claim about 134,000 listeners.
Kenny, now aged 65, has been at RTE since he joined as a continuity announcer in 1972.