PAC urged to quiz RTÉ over gender pay gap stance

THE Green Party has urged the Dáil’s powerful Public Accounts Committee to grill RTÉ on its refusal to publish details of a gender pay gap at the broadcaster.

RTÉ rejected a freedom of information request by this newspaper to publish a breakdown of its male and female staff ’s earnings.

It argued releasing the details could be “injurious” and “would not serve the public interest”. The decision maker refused the request, pointing to the ongoing independent review examining gender equality at RTÉ.

The Green Party’s women’s officer, Una Power, said it was “startling” that RTÉ would claim publishing the details wasn’t in the public interest. She said transparency was needed to resolve the issue of gender pay disparity and publicly funded bodies “should be proudly leading by example”.

An RTÉ spokesman said that the independent review of gender equality was expected to be finished towards the end of September.

“We look forward to sharing the results of this review in due course,” he added.