Some of RTE’s highest paid presenters were forced to reveal their salaries yesterday and declared they were not involved in secret deals.
It came as Dee Forbes sensationally quit as the national broadcaster’s director general in the midst of the controversial pay deal for outgoing Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy. Ms Forbes, 56, had been suspended last week after it emerged Tubridy has been paid €345,000 more than what RTE had publicly declared.
This has prompted a host of other RTE presenters to reveal what their pay deals are worth. Claire Byrne, 47, was the first to declare her salary insisting to her listeners she was “being honest” about her earnings.
She was once on €350,000 but dropped to €280,000 after quitting the Claire Byrne Live TV show, losing out on €70,000. She made €25,000 extra for hosting quiz show Ireland’s Smartest this year.
Read more: RTE journalists to stage lunchtime protest over payments scandal
Ms Byrne said on her RTE Radio One show yesterday: “I hope you can trust me.” She added that she realised this is an amount “way beyond what many people would hope to earn”.
She said she had “no prior warning, no inkling that there was a problem on the horizon”. Ms Byrne added: “My most recent published fee was €350,000.
“This was the fee agreed by RTE, for me to present this radio programme and Claire Byrne Live and as you know, I decided not to continue with that television show for personal and family reasons. And so, in order to be fully transparent with you, I want you to know that my RTE fee now is €280,000 and that fee is for presenting this programme.”
Ms Byrne said the last contract was negotiated by her agent Noel Kelly of NK Management. She added she recently presented Ireland’s Smartest and for that, she was paid a separate fee of €25,000.
That contract was negotiated by other members of the NK Management company. Ms Byrne said she listened to Friday’s Liveline and the callers who spoke about “being disappointed and they talked about trust being broken and the importance of transparency”.
She added: “As programme-makers, our aim is to be consistent, fair, and professional and to respect the hard-earned trust that you, the audience, has in us.” Ms Byrne said she “never sought, been offered or discussed any kind of commercial or side deal” and that no other payment exists or has ever existed beyond her published fee.
With that fee that she earns, she said, comes “a duty for me to treat this position with respect and I hope that you can trust me and the team of journalists I work with, to cover this story with the same rigour and balance as we would any other story on this programme”.
Just hours later Liveline host Joe Duffy declared his salary live on air on his RTE Radio One show. The host revealed he gets paid €351,000 with the Dubliner, 67, breaking down the costs.
The Ballyfermot native said he gets paid €300,000 for radio, and a further €51,000 for other TV project. He is hosting the Meaning of Life and previous episodes of Liveline Callback and Children of the Troubles.
He said on his RTE Radio One show: “I’ve never been offered, never rejected, never received, never been involved in any outside… the figures that are on my contract are the exact figures I receive.”
The broadcaster said he signed a four-year contract in 2019, and this year agreed to a two-year extension with the “exact same conditions, no changes and no increases”. He said he only agreed to a four-year contract as he “didn’t know what health I would be in in 2023”, but that RTE asked if a clause could be inserted which would give the option of invoking an extra two years.
But Ray D’Arcy, 58, remained tightlipped on his salary as he hosted his radio show live from Donegal and made no reference to the scandal.
Prime Time presenter Miriam O’Callaghan, 63, said she has been “incredibly sad” over the furore. But she said she didn’t know the story “was coming down the tracks”.
In a statement she said: “For the purpose of transparency, honesty and clarity, I want to put on the record that my most recently published fee from RTE – €263,500 – is correct, as are the published fees for previous years. I have never received additional payments from RTE that were not publicly declared.
“It’s hard to put into words how incredibly sad I have been since this story broke last Thursday.
“I had no idea this was coming down the tracks. I feel you, our listeners and viewers, have been badly let down. I love RTE – it’s a wonderful place to work, full of superb people who work very hard and conscientiously every day to deliver good programmes.
“Right now, there’s profound shock, anger and sadness among everyone working there. All we can do as journalists now, is cover this story as rigorously as we cover every other story.”
Meanwhile, Ms Forbes said she regretted the adverse publicity the scandal has brought on RTE. In a lengthy statement, in which she announced her resignation, Ms Forbes said: “As director general, I am the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation and I take that responsibility seriously.
"I am tendering my resignation to RTE with immediate effect. I am deeply sorry for what has happened and my part in this episode and for that I apologise unreservedly to everyone.
“I care very deeply about RTE, the people who work for it, the public it serves, its mission, values, its unique position as a public service broadcaster and its reputation.” Ms Forbes also said the situation has “had a very serious and ongoing impact on my health and wellbeing”.
Meanwhile, the National Union of Journalists is holding a protest outside RTE in Donnybrook at 1pm today The NUJ’s Dublin broadcasting branch is chaired by Emma O’Kelly, who’s RTE’s education correspondent.
She said the protest is a chance for members to “express in unity their anger and the urgent need for answers”.
Media Minister Catherine Martin will bring proposals to Cabinet today for an independent external review into governance and culture at RTE.
Separately, Ms Martin has written to the RTE chair and deputy DG reiterating the importance of “full and open” engagement by the board, RTE executive team and senior managers with the Oireachtas and the external review.
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