Sir, – I read Pat Kenny’s justification for the massive fees paid by RTÉ to presenters (Magazine, August 31st). His analysis is based on two very unsound assumptions.
First he reminds us that “someone like Gay Byrne was earning half a million punts per year in 1988”. This is probably correct but he draws the conclusion “That was the rate for the top man”. Certainly that may have been the fee paid but many believe that the State broadcaster should never have paid anyone that amount in 1988 – a time when the country was living way beyond its means, to quote another beneficiary of the taxpayers’ largesse. If you want to base a current fee on historical precedent then that past fee must itself be justified.
Second, Pat Kenny says such fees "may seem obscene, but the reality is there is a market and that market determines". The central point is that RTÉ does not operate in a commercial market. Anyone possessing a TV, even if they cannot receive RTÉ, has to pay the TV licence fee, and under the proposed broadcasting tax, it will have to be paid even by those without electricity. These taxes form a substantial part of RTÉ's income. This is a bizarre definition of the market.
I wish Pat Kenny well in his first commercial post, but I hope his analysis is a lot more rigorous there than in his defence of exorbitant fees for presenters on State media. – Yours, etc,
DONAL McGRATH,
Heathervue,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.