Rabbitte not in favour of salary cap at RTÉ

MINISTER FOR Communications Pat Rabbitte has said he is not in favour of a mandatory cap on the salaries of RTÉ’s best-paid presenters.

Mr Rabbitte said there was a difference between staff at RTÉ, such as the director general, and contractors, which include almost all of the broadcaster’s top-paid presenters.

Speaking at the launch of the digital terrestrial television Saorview service yesterday, Mr Rabbitte reiterated that it was up to RTÉ management to address the issue as “they would see appropriate” in the context of the contracts those presenters have.

He warned there would be further constraints within RTÉ given its projected €30 million deficit this year and “those who can afford it most are the ones who should make the biggest contribution”, which ought to include the highest-paid television presenters.

In 2008, the last year for which figures are available, Pat Kenny was RTÉ’s highest-paid presenter, earning a salary of €950,976; followed by the late Gerry Ryan on €629,865; Marian Finucane on €570,000; and Ryan Tubridy on €533,333.

Those figures do not reflect the 10 per cent cut they all agreed to take, and RTÉ management has been keen to stress that renegotiated contracts are substantially lower than were negotiated in the boom years.

The Minister stopped short of ordering a mandatory cap as Fianna Fáil spokesman on communications Éamon Ó Cuív had recommended in the Dáil earlier this month, when he said no RTÉ broadcaster should be paid more than a Minister’s salary.

Before the general election campaign, Fine Gael recommended that RTÉ presenters should be included in a €200,000 cap on the salaries of all those working in the semi-State sector.

Mr Rabbitte also stopped short of suggesting there would be a subvention for those who felt they could not afford the set-top box that will be needed to make the switch from analogue to digital television, which is scheduled to occur between now and the end of 2012.

The set-top boxes are expected to cost between €70 and €100.

He said he had made no decision in relation to it because of “straitened times”, but he stressed that his department was talking to relevant community and charity organisations. “The intention is that nobody will be left behind.”

The Saorview service was officially launched yesterday after a trial period. Two new channels, RTÉ One+1, which is a time-delayed service, and RTÉjr for children will go on air today.

Tomorrow RTÉ 2 will show the first high-definition (HD) programme ever broadcast from Ireland when it broadcasts the Magners League final between Munster and Leinster.

That will be followed on Sunday by the Munster senior hurling quarter-final between All-Ireland champions Tipperary and Cork. Both of those games will be exclusive to those with Saorview who also have a television capable of showing high-definition programmes.

The switch from analogue to digital will affect every household in the country that has neither satellite nor cable television, which is approximately 600,000 households.

They are mostly concentrated in rural areas, in farming households and among the elderly.

The service will feature eight domestic television channels – RTÉ 1, RTÉ 2 HD, TV3, TG4, RTÉ News Now, RTÉjr, RTÉ One+1, 3e and RTÉ Digital Aertel – as well as radio stations.