‘Publish top 10 earners every year’

RTÉ should publish details of its top ten earners every year, the chair of the Oireachtas Committee on Media has said. Deputy Niamh Smyth said transparency in all public sectors is regarded as key and is ‘expected’.

‘I think it would help RTÉ’s case in appealing for funding doing this,’

Ms Smyth told the

Irish Mail on Sunday.

RTÉ has only published its top ten earners up to 2019, but the station this weekend said it would publish the list of its highest earners for 2020 later this year.

When asked why it did not include the details in its annual report, the spokesperson said:

‘In 2008, in the interests of transparency, RTÉ gave a public commitment to publish details of its

10 highest earners annually, two years in arrears. This commitment is in addition to the publication of RTÉ’s annual report which does not include details of individual salaries or earnings, beyond those of RTÉ’s Director General. RTÉ will publish 2020 details later this year.’

In the most recently published list of its top earners in 2019, Ryan Tubridy was the highest-paid star on €495,000, with Ray D’Arcy second on €450,000. However, it is understood Mr D’Arcy’s initial lucrative contract which was signed in December 2014 has since expired. Neither RTÉ nor Mr D’Arcy would comment on his current contract.

In 2019, Joe Duffy was the third bestpaid presenter on €392,494, followed by the late Marian Finucane (€358,013), who was succeeded on the weekend radio slot by Brendan O’Connor, and Seán O’Rourke (€327,988), who has since retired. Miriam O’Callaghan came sixth with €320,000, followed by Claire Byrne (€250,000), who has since replaced Mr O’Rourke on the Today show, Mr O’Connor (€220,000), Bryan Dobson (€209,282) and Mary Wilson (€196,961). presenters: Ray D’Arcy and Claire Byrne