RTÉ has released details of the salaries paid to its top 27 presenters but has refused to disclose who earns what.
The highest salary it pays is between €400,000 and €500,00.
While the identity of the only presenter who earns this amount has not been confirmed by the national broadcaster, it is widely believed to be Pat Kenny, the presenter of The Late Late Show and the Today programme on Radio One.
Only one presenter is in the next highest pay bracket of between €300,000 and €400,000, according to figures released by the station under the Freedom of Information Act.
One other presenter, according to the figures, earned between €200,000 and €300,000, and three earned between €150,000 and €200,000.
The higher salaries, apart from that earned by Mr Kenny, are most likely going to RTÉ's other stars, including such people as Marian Finnucane, Gerry Ryan and Joe Duffy.
The information, released to a number of Sunday newspapers, had been closely guarded for years by the station.
It has refused several previous requests for it under the Freedom of Information Act.
When RTÉ released details of its top managers' pay in 2000 it said it was refusing to reveal the details of some broadcasters' salaries because access to such information "could reasonably be expected to have a significant adverse effect on the performance by RTÉ of its management functions".
It refused the information on seven grounds, including confidentiality clauses in some presenters' contracts, the possibility that releasing the information could hurt some employees financially, and the view that it could bestow "an unwarranted benefit to RTÉ's competitors".
However, the station's director general, Mr Bob Collins, last week said he acknowledged that there had to be greater openness and transparency in relation to how money was spent at RTÉ.
He told the first and only public sitting of the government-appointed Forum on Broadcasting on Wednesday that there would be full disclosure of RTÉ accounts in the first quarter of 2003.
The salary scales were released following this pledge.
Mr Collins had told an Oireachtas committee meeting last year that confidentiality clauses should no longer be attached to staff contracts.
The new information also showed that 10 presenters earned between €100,000 and €150,000 last year.
A further 11 earned between €75,000 and €100,000.
RTÉ is, according to Mr Collins, facing a €20 million deficit next year unless it gets an increase in the TV licence fee.