When The Party’s Over

at

From top: NUJ members at RTE last week; Ryan Tubridy (top) and from left, Joe Duffy , Ray D’Arcy and Marian Finucane

This afternoon.

Martin Wall, in The Irish Times, reports:

Journalists at RTÉ want salaries for top presenters and other senior figures at the broadcaster to be capped at the maximum level of €208,000 paid to the most senior civil servants in the country.

Journalists at the broadcaster said the proposal by management to cut the pay of top-level contract presenters by 15 per cent “does not go far enough”.

The RTÉ sub-branch of the overall Dublin broadcasting branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) passed a motion at a meeting on Thursday calling on RTÉ management to move immediately to reduce payments to top presenters.

Meanwhile…

NUJ Dublin Broadcasting tweetz:

NUJ members working in RTÉ have called on the broadcaster to stop paying what we believe are “indefensible” high fees & salaries to a small few presenters & managers.

We understand & share public concern about exorbitant salaries.

We note that the Dutch have pegged all top state & semi state salaries – including national broadcaster – to that of their Prime Minister’s €187,000. This was in response to public outcry at top salary levels. We approve!

RTÉ journalists want €208,000 cap on pay of top presenters and management (RTÉ)

Previously: It Was A Very Good Year

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38 thoughts on “When The Party’s Over

  1. Dr.Fart

    there’s loads of money in the country. going thru the government. they just have no idea how to manage it, so they get conned out of it by private market operators and are convinced it’s the only way to do it. collect the agreed 12.5% corporate tax on tech companies, don’t blow billions overspend on broadband, NCH etc., collect apple 13bn, and you could probably run a few decent calibre tv stations as well as fix all the broken public sectors. but no.. they wont.. theyd prefer to let private markets call the shots, and let everything fall apart while people literally lose their lives for avoidable reasons.

  2. GiggidyGoo

    Now that they’re in militant mood, maybe they’ll tackle the blight of fake and government ‘news’.
    Though that’s probably asking too much.

  3. frank

    Why do they think €187,000 is fair in the Netherlands but see €208,000 fair for here??
    The Dutch have given us Cruyff, Van Basten, Bergkamp, Koeman, Overmar, van Persie and red hot Dutch and Dutch gold.
    What has anyone here ever given us???

  4. Zaccone

    This is an entirely reasonable proposal. Top jobs in RTE have loads of non-monetary benefits – social cachet, interesting work, good leave entitlements. There would be no shortage of candidates even at 208k p.a.

    Hell, even half that of approx 100k would be a perfectly more reasonable cap. Thats what our TDs get paid, and they do much more work for it.

    1. Rob_G

      Entrée into lots of other avenues of money-making, too – book deal, journalism articles, corporate video, etc.

  5. some old queen

    It goes way further than just salaries.

    I was watching that Baz Ashmawy show Wingman last night. Nice sentiment about a father and his son- they flew the three of them to the states to drive across the country, plus crew. Another drive across the states after Daniel and Majella of course, but at least that was ABOUT driving across the states.

    That very same programme could have easily been done in Ireland at a fraction of the cost AND show cased some of the amenities we have here but no- everyone went on a nice jolly instead.

    1. Pat

      No offence but that’s a daft comment Queenie. I watched that show. Basically for the price of some return flights they got a spectacular visuals and that young lad and his dad got a dream holiday. They could have done it all in Ireland to ‘showcase Irish amenities’ for a few grand saved but it would have been a piss poor decision imho

        1. Pat

          Seriously doubt that Queenie! Anyhow I reckon you chose the wrong show to hold up as an example of not being value for money. It was class imo and it wouldn’t have been the same without the Route66 Vegas Star Trek stuff.

    1. some old queen

      Now you wouldn’t be expecting RTÉ employees to be paying the same tax rate as their viewers- sure along with the property investments that wouldn’t make it worth their while.

      I know where it may lead but there is a growing side of me which wants to see Barrett or O’Doherty on RTÉ-giving it to them with both barrels.

    1. GiggidyGoo

      And there’s the problem. They were mute up to now. Only when their sector with RTÉ come under threat do they buzz around. Shameless lot.

  6. Bud Flanagan

    You pay peanuts and you get monkeys.
    If you want Mo Salah to earn the same as the feller cleaning his boots you’re already on the race to the bottom.
    Who on earth wants to celebrate mediocrity ?

    1. V

      Nobody

      Bit I’m certainly not paying for Olympic Champion World Class
      And getting mediocrity

      FLIP
      Yeah a big shouty FLIP

      Christ I hate the word mediocre – effin hate it
      And all the things that swing from it too

    2. Zaccone

      €208k a year isn’t exactly peanuts. I’m sure RTE would have a massive queue of young talent for that wage.

      Thats also assuming the “top tier” talent like Joe Duffy or Miriam O’Callaghan who’re on more than that can actually get more money by moving elsewhere. Where do you see them moving to thats going to pay much in excess of that?

  7. Termagant

    I don’t think someone on the telly should be paid as much as the leader of the country if I’m honest
    That’s just my radical and extremely controversial opinion
    Maybe payscales should be contractually tied to viewership

        1. Paulus

          It was Scrap Saturday and it’s long gone. Seriously though.. Callan’s Kicks is a worthy sucessor; last two episodes spared no one…incl RTE.

  8. Tea And Brexits

    Does anyone know what the members of the RTÉ Board actually do?

    What contributions have Mssrs Ward, Hanigan, and the others made? Why were they appointed?

  9. Lilly

    As Emma O’Kelly said, you can’t blame the presenters for asking for ridiculous salaries. The blame lies with profligate RTE for paying them.

  10. GiggidyGoo

    Plus, there should be no private company contracts for presenters. PAYE personnel only presenting programs. Would be nice to see them paying a fair share of the tax burden.

    1. curmudgeon

      NOta grat idea TBH. A presenter or broadcasters job is too pull in numbers. If they lose audience figures what use are they. PAYE employees in the civil and public service have jobs for life plus massive & uncosted pensions. Nope RTE need to be able to hire and fire the “talent” at will. They could just not pay them as much, I mean whats Joe gonna do, start a podcast? His audience aint exactly tech savvy. Also he basically uses his show to shill his books and the odd TV program. Not gonna work if he doesnt have a show, he’d have to pay to advertise, and 2-3pm Radio1 is the most expensive ad slot there is.

  11. Jimmy

    Perhaps RTE should stop giving so many commissions to companies based in Northern Ireland. At Your Service, all of Francis Brennan’s series, Keepin er country (now in its 3rd season), Find me a Home, Pulling with Parents and so on are all made by companies in NI. Resulting in taxes going largely to the British exchequer. That’s a whole scandal that needs to be exposed. Companies in ROI are loosing out because of this. Northern Ireland screen and other grants from UK subsidise these companies so the southern companies cannot compete.

    1. Rob_G

      That would violate EU law.

      And anyway, why should RTÉ not to to the company with the most cost-effective bid? If that company is in N.I., well, so be it.

      There are plenty of grants for the Irish film industry, too.

      Also, we are a small island, and smaller again in terms of the film industry – plenty of residents living and paying taxes here who work for production companies based in N.I.

      1. Jimmy

        The lions share of profits from these commissions I listed are going to NI companies resulting in a win for the UK revenue. This is ridiculous no matter what way you choose to spin it. How is this acceptable that a semi state company being funded by licence payers in the republic hand over vast sums to companies based outside of the republic..?

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