Miriam: I’ll take a pay cut, journalism is my daily joy!
RTÉ stalwart Miriam O’Callaghan said she is prepared to take a pay cut when salary caps are imposed by the broadcaster in the wake of the secret payments scandal.
Under the pay cap announced by RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst this week, presenters and staff members will not be able to be paid more than his basic salary of €250,000.
When news of the hidden payments controversy broke in the summer, Ms O’Callaghan clarified that her ‘fee from RTÉ’ is €263,500. This puts her among RTÉ’s top three earning presenters, behind Joe Duffy (€351,000) and Claire Byrne (€280,000).
Asked by the Irish Mail on Sunday if she would be prepared to accept a pay cut when the salary cap comes into operation, the Prime Time presenter said: ‘Yes I am. I gave up my job as a young lawyer to go into broadcast journalism. It’s my passion. I love my job. It’s a daily joy and privilege.’
Neither Ms Byrne nor Mr Duffy responded to similar queries. Reports yesterday said Mr Duffy will be entitled to receive more than €100,000 above the salary cap until 2025 as his current contract was signed just 11 weeks before the scandal over secret payments to former RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy broke.
Mr Bakhurst this weekend confirmed he has had ‘some conversations’ with presenters who currently earn more than €250,000 in relation to the salary cap, telling the MoS: ‘While I have had some conversations, people have contracts in place which we must and will respect. So, these conversations will only take place when contracts come up for renewal.’
Asked if he will be seeking further pay cuts beyond the €250,000 basic salary cap – for example, for staff earning more than €100,000 – the RTÉ boss replied: ‘We have not proposed salary cuts. However, we have stated in our strategic vision document that we want to reduce the number of people in RTÉ who are paid more than €100,000 and we will do this.’
In his reform blueprint, titled A New Direction for RTÉ, Mr Bakhurst signalled the national broadcaster will outsource many in-house productions to cut costs.
Asked if presenters paid a basic salary of €250,000 could earn extra money by fronting outsourced programmes that are broadcast on RTÉ, Mr Bakhurst said: ‘What we have said is that nobody employed directly by RTÉ will be paid more than the director general.
‘Contractors may be in a position to receive payment for work outside of RTÉ. However, the purpose of this decision is to reduce costs and to address the issue of high fees paid by RTÉ to some presenters which has been corrosive for a number of years.’