RTÉ has published the earnings of its top ten earners for 2022, along with restated earnings for 2021.
The former RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy was the top on-air earner at the national broadcaster for 2022 with stated earnings of €515,000.
After Mr Tubridy, the second highest RTÉ earner for 2022 was Joe Duffy with €351,000, unchanged from what he earned in 2021.
The radio presenter Claire Byrne’s earnings dropped from €350,000 to €320,833 while Miriam O’Callaghan’s earnings stayed the same since 2021 and she continued to be paid €263,000 in 2022.
Ray D’Arcy’s earnings dropped by €100,000 over that period, meaning he earned €250,000 in 2022. Back in 2019 he had been the second-highest paid individual at RTÉ bringing in a fee of €450,000.
Brendan O’Connor, the sixth highest paid broadcaster, earned just over €245,000 in both 2021 and 2022.
The top six highest paid broadcasters are all contractors.
The top paid employee at the station for 2022 was Bryan Dobson with earnings of €209,681, a small increase on his earnings of €209,282 for 2021. The News at One presenter recently announced he will be retiring in April.
Mary Wilson was the eighth highest paid earner, her pay increased from €196,961 in 2021 to €197,643 in 2022.
The Sports presenter Darragh Maloney earned €183,738 in 2021, this figure increased to €184,501 in 2022.
The tenth highest paid on-air earner at the station in 2022 was RTÉ’s Environment Correspondent George Lee who earned €179,821 in 2022, slightly more than the €179,131 earned for 2021.
RTÉ said the overall remuneration in these tables represents salaries. employer pension contributions and related benefits.
It does not include fees paid by independent production companies for programming content or content commissioned by RTÉ.
It said contractors do not earn salaries and RTÉ does not make pension contributions on their behalf.
RTÉ said today that the total cost of its highest earning broadcasters represents less than 1% of its total operating costs and the Director General Kevin Bakhurst has said that, in the future, no one at the station will be paid a salary exceeding his own, as contracts expire and salaries are reduced.
RTÉ Deputy Director-General Adrian Lynch said: “As previously confirmed by Kevin Bakhurst, going forward, details of RTÉ’s highest paid presenters will be published annually as part of RTÉ’s Annual Report starting with RTÉ’s 2023 Annual Report which will be published later this year.
“While RTÉ has committed to reducing the cost of its highest paid presenters to ensure that no contractors or employees will earn more than the Director-General, our presenters play an important role in RTÉ’s provision of vital news, information and entertainment to audiences right across the country and enable us to generate commercial revenue which is essential to fund RTÉ’s public services.”
