Politics

Liveline host Joe Duffy highest paid at RTÉ last year with €351,000 package

Annual report shows deputy director general Adrian Lynch was next highest paid on €286,926

Presenters Joe Duffy, Miriam O'Callaghan and Claire Byrne were among the top ten highest paid at the broadcaster.
Cormac McQuinn
Fri Aug 02 2024 - 11:53

RTÉ's highest earners last year included star broadcasters as well as senior executives, according to figures contained in its annual report for last year.

Details of the unpublished report come after a year of controversy at RTÉ prompted by the national broadcaster’s under-declaration of former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy’s pay and separate issues surrounding spending on corporate hospitality and exit payments for some management figures.

The revelations led to a fall in licence fee revenue and RTÉ has pledged to implement a series of reforms.

Liveline host Joe Duffy was the highest paid person at RTÉ in 2023 on €351,000.

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RTÉ deputy director general Adrian Lynch was next on €286,926 followed by director of operations and technology Richard Waghorn on €281,750.

RTÉ radio presenter Claire Byrne was paid €280,000 while director of human resources Eimear Cusack was paid €274,815 and managing director of RTÉ News and current affairs Deirdre McCarthy was paid €273,490.

RTÉ Prime Time host Miriam O’Callaghan was on €263,500, while former director of legal Paula Mullooly was paid €260,160 and radio presenter Ray D’Arcy was paid €250,000.

Former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy was paid €245,278 for the part of 2023 where he was still working for RTÉ.

He parted ways with the national broadcaster last August.

Mr Tubridy had previously stopped presenting his weekday RTÉ Radio 1 show in late June when RTÉ announced that, between 2017 and 2022, he had received more payments than it had previously disclosed.

The pause to his presenting at RTÉ was initially regarded as temporary, but last August the new RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said negotiations with the host “concluded without success”.

Mr Tubridy had previously been RTÉ's highest earner and he was paid €515,000 in 2022.

Radio presenter Brendan O’Connor was paid €245,004 in 2023, Morning Ireland’s Mary Wilson was on €199,194 and former News at One anchor Bryan Dobson, who has now retired from RTÉ, was paid €194,319.

Sports host Darragh Moloney was on €186,650 in 2023 and RTÉ News environment correspondent George Lee was paid €185,674.

RTÉ director general Mr Bakhurst’s remuneration package came to €161,767 for the part of the year where he was working at RTÉ.

He took up the role in July 2023.

His basic salary for a full year is €250,000.

No one at RTÉ will be paid more than this in future years as part of the strategy for the future of RTÉ.

The organisation’s strategy says pay cuts for those paid more than this will be delivered “as contracts expire and as we hire new people ... and by reviewing and reducing allowances”.

In the report Mr Duffy, Ms Byrne, Ms O’Callaghan, Mr D’Arcy, Mr Tubridy and Mr O’Connor are listed as contractors.

The earnings set out for them represent fees payable for services provided in 2023 and excludes VAT.

Contractors do not earn salaries and RTÉ does not make any pension contribution on their behalf.

Ms Wilson, Mr Dobson, Mr Maloney and Mr Lee are listed as employees and their earnings include salaries, employer pension contribution and related benefits.

The remuneration packages set out for RTÉ executives includes their salary, pension and allowances.

Exit packages at RTÉ have also been a source of controversy for the broadcaster over the last year.

The annual report shows “termination benefits” to management personnel of €768,000 last year.

Cormac McQuinn

Cormac McQuinn

Cormac McQuinn is a Political Correspondent at The Irish Times