“Somebody” has decided that Bryan Dobson is more talented and worth more money than Sharon Ní Bheoláin, an RTÉ executive said in the latest row about the gender pay gap.
Yesterday the broadcaster said that “many factors” influenced how much presenters were paid as figures showed that 70 per cent of its highest earners were men.
Between 2014 and 2015, the publicly funded service added one woman, Claire Byrne, to its list of its ten highest paid broadcasters. Nicky Byrne, the former Westlife star, made it to the list after he took a €200,000 presenting job with 2fm in 2014.
Jenny Greene, his co-host who has been with the radio station for more than a decade, is not included in the top ten highest-paid presenters.
RTÉ published its 2015 list of high earners after it was embroiled in a gender pay gap controversy last week. Ní Bheoláin, the newsreader, had confirmed that she earned between €60,000 and €80,000 less than Dobson, her co-presenter who was paid more than €195,000.
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The biggest earners made €3 million between them, an increase from the €2.6 million top ten combined salaries in 2014.
Willie O’Reilly, the commercial director of RTÉ, rejected criticism of the fact that many of the broadcasters on the list earned more than the taoiseach as a “facile” argument.
“What’s the relevance of that? Should the taoiseach be the best paid person in the state? No thank you,” he said on RTÉ Radio 1’s Drivetime programme.
He claimed that if the ten best rewarded media personalities in the country were compiled into a list, the state broadcaster would only have four or five positions on it. He added that RTÉ could lose talented broadcasters if it did not pay such salaries.
Mr O’Reilly said that it was “quite likely” that some salaries would shrink. Asked if Dobson earning more than Ní Bheoláin was a matter of talent, Mr O’Reilly said: “Well I’m saying somebody has made that assessment.”
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The highest paid broadcaster is Ryan Tubridy, who earns €495,000. He is followed by Ray D’Arcy, who is paid €400,000 since he was poached from Today FM in 2014. Joe Duffy’s salary fell from €416,893 in 2014 to €398,988 in 2015.
The highest-paid woman is Miriam O’Callaghan, whose pay rose from €280,445 to €299,000. Fifth on the list is Marian Finucane at €295,000, the same as her 2014 earnings. In 2015, Claire Byne became the third woman on the list and the seventh highest-paid broadcaster, on €201,500, behind the €290,113 paid to Sean O’Rourke.
Nicky Byrne, Dobson and Darragh Moloney complete the top ten, earning between €200,583 and €188,803 respectively.
Dee Forbes, director-general of RTÉ, said the figures showed it had upheld its promise to reduce the top earnings by 30 per cent compared with 2008 when Pat Kenny earned more than €950,000.
She added that RTÉ was considering the issue of pay inequality between men and women, and would also consider the under-representation of women on TV and radio panels.
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“The issue of gender pay is an important one. It is crucial to understand, in terms of the top ten figures released today, that many factors influence presenter fees, there are significant variations in programme commitments, broadcast hours and audience numbers,” Ms Forbes said, adding that the new human resources director was reviewing role and gender equality.
Biggest earners
1 Ryan Tubridy €495,000
2 Ray D’Arcy €400,000
3 Joe Duffy €389,988
4 Miriam O’Callaghan €299,000
5 Marian Finucane €295,000
6 Sean O’Rourke €290,113
7 Claire Byrne €201,500
8 Nicky Byrne €200,583
9 Bryan Dobson €195,913
10 Darragh Maloney €188,803