RTÉ won’t release its annual list of top earners until 2021.
The broadcaster hasn’t shared such figures since December 2018, when figures dating back to 2016 were released.
A spokesperson told the Irish Independent: “Like many organisations, RTÉ has carried over a number of items and activities into 2021, including the announcement of details of our highest earners.”
“RTÉ expects to announce details of its highest earners in early 2021.”
Back in 2018, RTÉ revealed that Ryan Tubridy was their highest paid star in 2016, with a salary of €495,000.
Ray D’Arcy was second on the list, with an annual wage of €450,000, and Joe Duffy was in third place with €398,000.
Sean O’Rourke, who announced his retirement earlier this year, was the fourth highest earner, with a salary of €308,000.
The news comes after staff called on the broadcaster to slash the salaries of their top earners last year.
Last November, RTÉ announced that they would be cutting €60 million from their budget, and axing 200 jobs along with it.
The new budget plans included a 15% pay reduction for it’s highest earning presenters, but at the time, the Irish Sun reported that RTÉ journalists weren’t happy about the percentage.
A statement from the NUJ Dublin Broadcasting Branch, chaired by RTÉ’s Education correspondent Emma O Kelly, read: “We believe it is now, more than ever, indefensible that RTE continues to pay exorbitant salaries of up to close to half a million euro to a small number of people in this organisation.”
“We understand the public anger at this and believe it is justified. We believe the RTE proposal to cut 15 per cent off payments to its top contracted presenters does not go far enough.”
“We are calling on RTE management to immediately move to reduce the fees of the top presenters so no one in the organisation is earning more than the top civil service salary, that of the Secretary General.”
“We believe this would be an important first step towards addressing the valid concerns felt by the public who we serve.”
