Mario Rosenstock has commented on RTÉ’s gender pay gap, and insisted that he thinks it’s “fine” that Bryan Dobson gets paid more than Sharon Nà Bheoláin.
The Today FM star, who had his own sketch comedy series on RTÉ Two, has said that RTÉ News anchor Bryan deserves to be paid more than Sharon because he has more duties within the station.
The broadcaster was one of RTÉ’s top earners in 2015 with a wage of €195,000 – but his co-host Sharon recently revealed that she earns up to €80,000 less than him.
“There are stars who command much more money, there is longevity of performance which entitles you to more money, there is the ability to do different things, to do extra work for example,” Mario told the Irish Mirror.
Worth it: Mario thinks Bryan deserves the higher salary | VIPIRELAND.COM
“The Sharon Ni Bheolain and Bryan Dobson thing, I think that’s fine. I think that’s fine that Bryan Dobson gets paid more on the basis that he is longer in service and that he does other work with the station that may require lots more hours.
“For example, as other people have pointed out, long election broadcasts and all that 12 hours. In other words, he’s doing more stuff. But if Sharon and Bryan presented just the news together, I would definitely question why he gets paid more because you kind of ask, well what are we down to then?
“Are we just down to length of service now or are we saying a news star is a bigger news star than someone else and when did news become about stars? I thought news was about public service.”
Hard working: Mario says Miriam O’Callaghan is worth her €299k wage | VIPIRELAND.COM
The comedian also said that RTÉ’s highest-paid female broadcaster Miriam O’Callaghan, who Mario regularly impersonates in his skits, is absolutely worth her €299,000 wage.
“Yes I believe so, I think she does a lot of hours on TV and radio. She puts in the work, she’s extremely good at what she does and anybody I’ve ever met in the industry will say, she can command a brief straight away and master it.
“In Prime Time mode, she has to operate under very high pressure with those election debates, putting the tough questions to economists and politicians and she doesn’t shirk – so I do think she’s worth it,” he added.
