BEING A WOMAN IN RTE IS NOT EASY
Top presenter Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh wades into RTÉ gender pay row Insider says Sharon Ní Bheoláin is disappointed by her lack of progress at station And Bryan Dobson has been given the summer off!
THERE is still discrimination over pay at Montrose, claims an RTÉ star who has waded into the gender-pay-gap controversy.
While some of her male colleagues earn in excess of €400,000, Bláthnaid Ní Chofaigh takes in European summer students to make ends meet.
The row erupted last week when it emerged that Sharon Ní Bheoláin earns between €60,000 and €80,000 less than her Six One News co-anchor Bryan Dobson. Since the BBC published pay details of its top broadcasters, a significant group of female RTÉ staff have privately voiced their deep dissatisfaction over the gender pay gap.
Ms Ní Chofaigh says she is ‘constantly financially smashed’, despite
being staff at the national broadcaster for the past three decades.
Although she hopes conditions will improve for the station’s hundreds of female employees, she fears it will be too late for her.
‘I hope things will improve after this headline week,’ she says. ‘Probably not for me but for the next batch hopefully. You have to admit there is a problem to fix and the one thing about us is that we are loud. Yes, I believe that things will change because it has been highlighted and we have made noise that can’t be ignored.’
Other key figures including political correspondent Martina Fitzgerald and education correspondent Emma O’Kelly also spoke out over the pay issue following Ms Ní Bheoláin’s revelation in the past week.
An RTÉ insider said: ‘Sharon’s been overwhelmed by the response from her female colleagues.
‘Pay is not the only issue for Ms Ní Bheoláin who is frustrated with the lack of progression in her own career, despite requesting to move from the Six One News several years ago.
‘It’s not about pay in her case. She has issues with management in other regards. They know that she’s anxious to resolve issues she has with them. She’s had a long-running battle with them to be moved off the Six, going back years.
‘She’s disappointed by the lack of progression in her career. She’s hoping to address that when she meets with management in the near future.’
Now Ms Ní Bheoláin’s workload has increased as her co-presenter Bryan Dobson has taken three months’ leave.
He last presented the Six One News on June 9 and is due to return at the start of September.
An RTÉ spokeswoman said: ‘Bryan Dobson is currently on leave, a combination of his statutory annual leave entitlement and a career break, the option of which was available to all staff to apply for. He will return co-presenting the RTÉ Six One News at the start of September,’ she said.
When asked if he was being paid while on leave, she replied: ‘We don’t comment on the individual terms of a person’s leave.’
Meanwhile, Ms Ní Chofaigh said staff could not be held responsible for the station’s money woes: ‘RTÉ is in trouble financially but that is not my fault… Everyone runs RTÉ and not everyone can manage it but I am very optimistic about the next few months. I am. But then again I have a habit of being very optimistic and then being gutted. I suppose if I was towards the end of my career and I was thinking that there might be packages or whatever – but I can’t go anywhere. I can’t afford to go anywhere.
‘And sorry, I am not done. I don’t think I am even on my second wind. I want to get back on the horse. You have to keep at it, sure my daughter Síle is in college and she is 20, Peadar is going to do his Leaving Cert, the other two come after him. I have been keeping students all summer. That goes towards the back-to-school fund. I am a great believer in that. We are all good, and we aren’t going anywhere.’
Ms Ní Chofaigh has just landed a new Saturday morning Radio One show alongside her good friend Derek Mooney.
The latest figures from 2014 show that of the top 10 earners, three are men based in the RTÉ newsroom.
These are Mr Dobson, who was earning €195,816 per annum, George Lee (€179,031) and Richard Crowley (€174,120).
The highest earner in 2014 was The Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy, who earned €495,000.
He was followed by Joe Duffy (€416,893) and the station’s highest paid female presenter Marian Finucane (€295,000).
Seán O’Rourke was paid an annual salary of €290,096, followed by Miriam O’Callaghan (€280,445).
However, these figures do not include Ray D’Arcy’s salary as he rejoined RTÉ in 2015 after years at Today FM. RTÉ has said it will publish updated figures by the year’s end.
Ms Ní Chofaigh insists the gulf in pay and standards is not restricted to RTÉ’s news department.
She believes many female employees within the organisation are not getting the same financial and professional recognition as their male counterparts.
‘News is getting a lion’s share of the headlines and coverage of the gender gap which is very frustrating for me because they are not the only ones that matter in RTÉ. A lot of women in radio are BCOs [broadcast co-ordinators]. They would have a lot of issues with gender pay gap and discrimination that, by the way, were experienced everywhere. I’d love Joe Duffy to take on the gender pay gap on Liveline.’
She is adamant that change is necessary if RTÉ is to reclaim its reputation as an unbiased, public service broadcaster but she also feels the issue extends to all areas of Irish life on a national scale. ‘If we are going to address the issues facing women in the workplace, we have to address all issues not just those in RTÉ.
‘I believe in the principles of RTÉ and public service broadcasting. I believe that in a commercial world… what else have we? We need to have a national discussion about this issue because it is much bigger than RTÉ.’
RTÉ denies the row has led to disquiet among its female workforce.
‘Long-running battle with management’ ‘I can’t afford to go anywhere’