RTÉ have defended Ray D’Arcy’s €400k salary, by insisting that his earnings are ‘good value for money’.
The broadcaster returned to the station in 2015, and in figures released yesterday, Ray was listed as the second-highest-paid presenter in 2015, behind Ryan Tubridy who remains the highest earner with a salary of €495,000.
The figures were released by RTÉ’s director general Dee Forbes earlier than usual yesterday, as the station are under pressure to address the gender pay gap and issues of transparency at Montrose.
The figures listed the station’s top 10 highest-paid presenters, with salaries collectively amounting to millions of euro – which raised plenty of eyebrows as the national broadcaster’s annual deficit is €19.6m.
Value for money: RTÉ have defended Ray’s €400k salary | RTE
However, RTÉ Group commercial director Willie O’Reilly has hit back at the criticism by defending Ray D’Arcy’s salary.
“He is now on less than he was when he was in his previous employment [on Today FM] and he is doing radio five days a week and television on a Saturday night. RTÉ has got Ray to our station at less than he was getting elsewhere,” he told the Irish Independent.
When asked if he thought this represented good value for money, Willie replied, “I think it is, yes.”
Speculation about RTÉ’s gender pay gap was heightened when RTÉ News host Sharon Ní Bheoláin revealed that she earns €80,000 less than her co-anchor Bryan Dobson.
And in figures released yesterday, 2fm host Nicky Byrne landed at number eight on the top-earners list with a salary of €200,000, but his co-host Jenny Greene failed to make it on the list.
Top earner: Nicky Byrne landed at number eight on the list | VIPIRELAND.COM
However, Mr O’Reilly has noted that Nicky’s salary included his work on both radio and TV.
“When you join RTÉ as staff it is a gender neutral pay scale… But when you go in front of the microphone it all changes and when you host a programme it changes again.
“[Salaries] will remain under scrutiny and will be an agenda item for reform. I would suggest that if RTÉ is going to shrink …that in time these [salaries] may shrink too.”
The Irish Independent have also reported that RTÉ is holding off on publishing full details of the gender pay gap, despite staff demands.
Gender pay gap: Sharon Ní Bheoláin earns €80k less than her co-anchor Bryan Dobson | RTE
Education correspondent Emma O’Kelly has admitted that she is yet to receive a response to her request for RTÉ to give a breakdown of earnings across the station based on gender, and to publish a breakdown of pay across all divisions.
It has also been reported that co-anchors Bryan Dobson and Sharon Ní Bheoláin met yesterday to discuss the pay issue for the first time.
It’s also understood that despite RTÉ publishing the 2015 figures yesterday, staff are still ‘very critical’, and some of the issues raised include RTÉ’s failure to publish the top 20 earners (instead of 10), in order to demonstrate more transparency.
