Number of RTÉ staff earning €100,000-plus increased in 2021

The number of RTÉ staff earning at least €100,000 in basic salary rose last year, according to newly published accounts for the broadcaster.

The figures published by RTÉ show 119 staff members were paid more than €100,000, including 22 who earned between €150,000 and €250,000. That compares to 117 staff on similar salaries in 2020.

“The average salary in RTÉ in 2021 has decreased compared to 2020,” an RTÉ spokesman said. “Changes in salary bands are a result of normal annual movements across the organisation, including retirements.”

In the year under review, RTÉ staff overwhelmingly voted against a proposal by management for pay cuts ranging from 3.5 per cent to 5.35 per cent for any staff member earning over €40,000.

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Salary bill

The release of the salary bands by RTÉ follows the broadcaster’s annual report showing the numbers employed at RTÉ last year increased by five from 1,866 to 1,871. The broadcaster’s wage and salary bill last year declined marginally from €122.75 million to €121.84 million.

Director general Dee Forbes is one of those who earned between €150,000 to €250,000. During 2021, Ms Forbes had a basic salary of €225,000 and a car allowance of €25,000, which along with pension contributions of €56,000 brought her overall package to €306,000.

Ms Forbes received no performance-related pay in 2021 and 2020 and a note attached to the 2021 annual report states that “as part of cost-reduction initiatives prior to the onset of the global pandemic, the members of the executive had agreed to a salary reduction of 10 per cent”.

Presenters are biggest earners

“The fact is there is not a high pay culture in RTÉ and there are many low-paid grades across the organisation,” Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists Séamus Dooley said. “Successive governments have failed to properly fund public service broadcasting. Workers cannot be expected to forgo pay increases.”

He said the Trade Union Group at RTÉ was in the early stages of negotiations on pay. “We will be pressing for a meaningful pay increase. Staff have not had a pay increase since 2007,” he said.

The figures don’t include the broadcaster’s top earners such as Ryan Tubridy, Joe Duffy and Ray D’Arcy as they are not staff. Instead they are independent contractors. The most recent available figures show that, in 2019, Tubridy received €495,000 followed by D’Arcy who received €450,000 with Duffy’s company receiving €392,494.

Last year, a further 179 RTÉ staff members earned between €80,000 and €100,000 while average pay totalled €60,686 – a small decrease compared to 2020.

About 550 RTE staff earned between €60,000 and €80,000, with the largest cohort at 740 earning between €40,000 and €60,000.