Sir, – If I make a mistake and fail to pay my TV licence fee next November, will RTÉ enter into some bartering deal with me?
I’m more than willing to undertake some light, casual internal auditing duties at Montrose in lieu of the €160 fee. About 10 or 15 minutes of work should cover it. – Yours, etc,
PATRICK O’BYRNE,
Phibsborough,
From Blair and Clinton to civil servants in the shadows, archive papers reveal scale of peace push
JFK’s four days in Ireland among happiest of his life, his father told De Valera
‘Buying the bank seemed daring’: how one couple transformed a rural bank branch into a home and business
Megan Nolan: A conversation with a man in his late 30s made clear the realities of this new era in my dating life
Dublin 7.
Sir, – That RTÉ should be making secret payments to an already overpaid employee while choosing to cut off an ageing Irish diaspora via the scrapping of the much-loved longwave service is disheartening beyond words. – Yours, etc,
Prof FRANK SHOVLIN,
Institute of Irish Studies,
University of Liverpool.
Sir, – Will Sesame Street be returning to the RTÉ schedules in order to prove that one person in there can count? – Yours, etc,
RORY J WHELAN,
Drogheda,
Co Meath.
Sir, – I believe RTÉ punches above its weight on a relatively limited budget. This is what makes the current revelations all the more disappointing.
Ryan Tubridy is not responsible for this debacle and should not be vilified. The fault lies squarely with RTÉ. The opaque nature of payments are reminiscent of an Ireland we used to know in the 1970s and 1980s that we hoped had disappeared. – Yours, etc,
GEOFF SCARGILL,
Bray,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Ryan Tubridy would have been aware of the amounts reported by RTÉ to the Public Accounts Committee, this being a matter of public record and which is well reported every year. I would assume he is also aware of his own income. Allowing for the fact that Ryan Tubridy has previously declared that he has a phobia regarding maths, even those with a limited mathematical knowledge would have been aware of the difference between the two figures. He could have taken the opportunity, at any stage over the past number of years, to ask that the record be corrected.
Spare me the “surprise” . – Yours, etc,
SIOBHÁN O’CONNOR,
Down.
Sir, – Who said that RTÉ can’t do good home-produced drama? – Yours, etc,
RITA O’BRIEN,
Lucan,
Co Dublin.
Sir, – Unfair City. – Yours, etc,
PETER DECLAN O’HALLORAN,
Belturbet,
Co Cavan.
Sir , – Why does RTÉ consider it necessary to significantly overpay its presenters when there are many equally capable of doing their jobs?
RTÉ should only pay its staff and presenters reasonable salaries based on its annual income and the abilities and competence of those staff.
Should other organisations wish to poach these “stars”, let them. There are talented people around the country who could easily fill their roles and who would be delighted to get a chance to showcase their talents. – Yours, etc,
HUGH PIERCE,
Celbridge,
Co Kildare.
Sir, – Ryan Tubridy recently used his RTÉ radio programme to viscerally condemn the Leaving Certificate, stating that it is unfair to students and advocating for an alternative.
However, one thing the State exam cannot be accused of is unfairness. It is an objective, transparent exam with everyone sitting the same papers and exam scripts being marked anonymously, leaving no room for favouritism or selective treatment based on status.
The same fairness and transparency apparently cannot be said of RTÉ's approach to remunerating select people who work for it.
Surely Mr Tubridy’s Leaving Cert maths knowledge would have enabled him to spot the difference between the salaries RTÉ openly declared for him as its top presenter over the years and the actual amounts that came into his account? – Yours, etc,
LYNDA DONOVAN,
Sandyford,
Dublin 18.
Sir, – Who says we all trusted RTÉ? Mostly RTÉ! – Yours, etc,
GEARÓID Ó BRÁDAIGH,
Mullingar,
Co Westmeath.
Sir, – There is a pattern here. Your archives will show special arrangements for leadership in Irish universities and in the Department of Health.
Welcome to Top-Up Ireland. – Yours, etc,
DOROTHY BARRY,
Mallow,
Co Cork.
Sir, – When I served on the broadcasting regulator, I attempted without success to persuade people of the desirability of a register of interests for journalists and presenters.
Presenters deal with matters of public interest and political relevance, whether or not one defines these as current affairs. Such a register is even more desirable in an era of fake news and mistrust in the media.
There is nothing to be lost by such a register and I again urge its adoption.
Even if RTÉ were not publicly owned, a situation where a highly paid presenter had a confidential arrangement with a private funder of any kind would not be desirable. – Yours etc,
COLUM KENNY,
Professor Emeritus,
Dublin City University,
Dublin 9.
Sir, – The publication of Ryan Tubridy’s incorrect earnings attracted front-page attention each year. Neither Mr Tubridy nor anyone on his behalf sought to correct the misstatements across six separate years by RTÉ that seriously misled the public.
A simple tweet or letter to your newspaper in any of the six years would have done the job. – Yours, etc,
PETER FOLEY,
Tramore,
Co Waterford.