Brendan O’Connor has spoken out on the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal.
RTÉ was plunged into chaos last week when it was revealed that their highest-paid presenter’s earnings were publicly understated by €345,000 over the last six years.
The scandal has prompted the state broadcaster’s other top presenters Claire Byrne, Joe Duffy, Miriam O’Callaghan and Ray D’Arcy to publicly disclose their salaries.
Brendan has become the latest RTÉ star to speak out.
Speaking on his RTÉ Radio 1 show on Saturday, the Cork native said: “Obviously, a lot of people wanted to talk to me about this in the last week and we hear a lot that people are very angry.”
“I think with a lot of people there’s something slightly more subtle in a way than anger going on. I think people feel foolish, I think a lot of people, like ordinary people out there, license fee payers and so on, feel that they were made fools of by some people.”
“I think that’s a hard one for people and, of course that does give rise to anger as well, but I think it’s kind of a hurt as well. Made feel foolish is not a nice thing.”
According to RSVP Live, Brendan confirmed his RTÉ salary is €245,004 – which is the same he got in 2021.
Earlier this week, the presenter also confirmed that he has not been involved in a barter pay deal.
It comes after RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh confirmed that the state broadcaster is set to publish the salaries of it’s top 100 earners in wake of the payments scandal.
