From top: RTÉ Director-General Dee Forbes and 2015 salaries paid to the station’s top presenters

This morning.

Via The Irish Independent:

A number of well-placed sources have told the Irish Independent over recent days that the move has led to ructions in Montrose.

It’s a terrible betrayal,” said one, who added that the motion was driven by “populism and panic”.

Another described the atmosphere as “warlike” because those targeted are expected to work side by side with colleagues who see them as overpaid.

One presenter said: “The top 10 are also, as you know, just 1pc of the cost of RTÉ yet we are getting all the attack.”

… a sub branch of the NUJ passed the motion calling for much deeper cuts to the “exorbitant salaries”.

Meanwhile…

…A number of RTÉ stars are NUJ members and there is a belief that union rules have been breached.

The organisation’s rulebook states that members are expected to treat other members with “consideration and respect and not to take action which threatens their livelihoods and/or working conditions”.

*scrapes tiny violin*

‘A terrible betrayal’ – RTE top earners furious after colleagues call for them to take pay cut (Independent.ie)

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28 thoughts on “‘Ructions’

  1. Hector Ramirez

    Future prime time special…

    David McCullogh: ‘we go undercover to investigate the internecine war that brought an institution down and bodies on the streets…’

    1. Bud Flanagan

      It’s like saying a footballer isn’t worth 200 grand a week.
      He clearly is to the club paying him the salary.
      The thing is if a broadcaster attracts listeners who listen to advertising then he’s worth it.
      If they don’t they ain’t.
      Welcome to the world of winners and losers.
      It’s how it works.
      What I do object to is public service broadcasters paying big salaries using the licence fee.If you want to pay salaries to attract talent from commercial broadcasters then you shouldn’t get a licence fee and should rely on advertising like they have to.
      It’s called a level playing field.
      And it also removes the reliance of a broadcsting organisation on government munificence and therefore influence and interference.

      1. postmanpat

        = he’s not worth what they are paying him. Which is what Jdawgs just said! (but didn’t show the math) The ratings are manufactured. I don’t know a single person in real life who likes him. Your average youtuber has 100X the genuine Irish fan base.

        1. Bud Flanagan

          That’s just your subjective opinion.
          The people paying his wages know his popularity and ratings.
          You think someone keeps his job by keeping a presenter in a prime time slot if he’s pulling in poor ratings ?
          You pay peanuts you get monkeys.
          This whole thing is sour graps by media drones not clever or talented enough to do his job.

          1. curmudgeon

            This gave me a good laugh, but you know if we taxpayers demanded the govt. stopped funding RTE do you think they’d still get the same? In a company running a year on year 20M deficit?

          2. postmanpat

            If D’Arcy disappeared one day. Any replacement would hold the same fake ratings. People would watch anything. You could insert Daithí Ó Sé and no one would care. Except Daithí Ó Sé seems like a nice guy and whereas D’Arcy come across as short in stature and bald which is automatically strange and off putting and by all accounts he is your typical ruthless broadcaster a-hole in real life. And he has never been tested out side of planet RTE. The place is a haven for him , if his salary was halved he would have to accept it because he really has nowhere else to go.

          3. Otis Blue

            Thing is he got that gig having returned to RTÉ from the private sector. I’d very much doubt that he was on 400k with Today FM.

          4. Mountain Talk

            @Bud Flanagan, What’s subjective??? take a Moneyball look at the numbers. GrahamNorton 715K / 60million person population. RyanTubridy 500K / 4million population. In an institution running 20m in debt. I mean if there’s a football club like that out there ???? using your analogy

          5. V

            I attempted a Moneyball approach in one of the Annual Report YE columns here before

            That form of analysis, while relevant and telling, and (imo anyway) reasonably understandable, didn’t really sink in

            not around here anyway

            But good luck with your go at it there Mt Talk
            I think you might have a better chance tbh

          6. Mountain Talk

            @V yes ha, shoulda said, Jonah Hill walks in, drills down further. Ageing audience. legacy issue’s. Divide 60million by 4million = 15. Now divide GrahamNortons 715K by that and you 47 thousand. Thats what he should be on. And he’d be still making money

      2. Zaccone

        TV broadcasting isn’t a perfectly competitive market. Unfortunately for RTE, many of their top stars are paid not based on their performance, or the demand for their services, but based on their links to RTE management.

        To illustrate this in the real world, who else do you think is going to pay Tubridy 500k a year if he decides to walk away from RTE? Or Ray D’Arcy 450k, or Joe Duffy 400k?

        The Irish media market just isn’t large enough to financially support such salaries. The BBC pay Graham Norton 715k a year for example. In a media market TEN TIMES the size of Irelands. And hes their 3rd highest earner star.

        By any metric – RTE’s profitability, by RTE’s viewership, or by similar salaries in other media markets, RTE’s top stars are grossly overpaid.

        1. postmanpat

          CUT their wages . LET them walk. But they wont because they know they are hacks. Your average Twitch Minecraft YouTube Streamer has more charisma. I’m not even exaggerating.

        2. Cian

          Never mind the “talent”.

          Why are we paying news readers (e.g. Bryan Dobson) €200K? For reading an autocue?

    2. Clampers Outside

      After I put in the effort (oh yes it was an effort) to watch the interview with Holt McCallany last weekend, I cannot agree enough.

      Holt was about to go into a story about his school days and how they helped prepare him for later life and Ray butted in…

      I, I, I… I lifted a bit off the seat as I wanted to slap Ray for interrupting. The complete plonker!

  2. newsjustin

    I would like to know what the lowest full-time salary is amongst RTE staff – all RTE staff. I’d imagine it’s quite healthy – even for general admin, trades, studio staff.

    I doubt the problem is JUST that a handful are paid very, very well.

  3. V

    In fairness it is a bit rich the NUJ or indeed any organised Labour Union pitting members against members like this

    And the figures produced above are coming up to five years old

    The interests of the Licence Payer and the Irish Public are not being served by anyone in this fight
    They can Bask my Ass in their ructions, its not like they all knock around together at the Christmas do

    The Minister should do the State some Service and appoint a receiver, and not one from the Big Four

  4. Mountain Talk

    You know – I don’t give a lolly bing bong what they do, as long as they don’t come after tablets, phones, computers. Digital Tax – insulating failure under national interest. “Nationwide” a necessity like electricity. I have an idea for a beautiful national cultural platform w/ no ads. But in hands of this antiquated group, it’s like asking the whaling industry to deliver the CyberTruck. It needs to all go, Television

    1. Ron

      that’s exactly what they intend to do and you will be expected to just pay it like the proper little subservient voter you are to them. It’s not your job to question them, they are our betters and they know best. And the reason politicians think like that is because that’s exactly how the daw jawed electorate in this country operate.

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