RTE Radio star Ray D’Arcy has revealed that he would take a pay cut if needed.
Speaking with The Independent’s Eddie Rowley, Ray was asked if there was pressure for him to take a wage reduction.
“I’ll find out next week. I’m in negotiations, but I imagine there is and I have no problem with that,” he said.
Touching on his attitude to the pay cut, he said: “Because I see the reality of the media landscape. And it’s very difficult for RTE.”
“We live in a small country. We’re judged and compared to one of the best broadcasting companies in the world (the BBC), who have a population of over 60 million people and all the resources and licence fees that go with that.”
“Then you add to that Netflix, Amazon Prime, Instagram.”
“I remember hearing Gay Byrne talk about competition for the Late Late Show. He was saying, ‘We’re in competition with the dance down the road, the latest book that’s out…’ So, if that was what he had to compete with, he had it good compared to the litany of competition that’s out there today.”
“He was a genius and a master of what he did, but he had a different landscape completely.”
“So I’d be very aware of the reality of what’s going on and the finances of it all.”
Ray has been one of RTE’s biggest earners since he began there five years ago.
