The partner of the late Seán Rocks has requested a meeting with RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst to discuss the presenter being “misclassified” as a producer at the State broadcaster for years.
Catherine Bailey, Rocks’s partner of 22 years, said the producer classification meant his family was “very disadvantaged” financially.
Rocks, who died at the age of 64 last July after a brief illness, presented the Radio 1 arts and culture programme Arena for 16 years, beginning in 2009.
RTÉ has faced questions in the last week after it confirmed Derek Mooney was classed as a producer, rather than a presenter, for years.
READ MORE
Mooney’s reclassification meant he was paid enough to feature among the 10 highest-paid presenters between 2020 and 2025. In revised figures, he featured eighth in 2024 and seventh in 2025, earning €197,151 and €202,264 respectively.
Earlier this week, it emerged Rocks had been put on a producer salary with an additional allowance for his on-air role, a situation that his family say negatively affected his pension.
Bailey on Friday said her late partner was paid a “modest” salary and nothing “remotely” near the top-10 wages paid to some of his colleagues.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with David McCullagh programme, she said Rocks tried to rectify the situation with RTÉ management on multiple occasions over the years.
[ Derek Mooney pay controversy compounds image of dysfunction and distrust at RTÉOpens in new window ]
Bailey said: “It was a huge part of our lives and it was something that really kept Seán up at night. He wanted to tidy up his situation . . .
“Seán went in numerous times to senior management to try and get this rectified and to say: ‘I’m being misclassified, I’m not a producer, I shouldn’t be on this allowance situation with my main wage, can you please rectify this?’
“And, you know, he was fobbed off an awful lot, as in: ‘Yes, yes, we’ll get back to you, we’ll get back to you’. But, unfortunately, it never happened.”
Bailey said Rocks’s death was “beyond traumatic” for her and their two sons.
“We thought we’d come out of the woods with his health issues and we felt we were on the upward trajectory . . . For it to happen the way it did, so suddenly, it was very, very shocking. Very distressing for me and the children.”
Bailey said she was still in a “very grief-stricken state” when she tried to tackle some of the administration that needs to be done when a person dies. She got in touch with RTÉ about Rocks’s pension and was given “a number that seemed completely out of whack to Seán’s earnings”.
Bailey said she thought the figure was wrong and queried it with RTÉ. She said she was “reassured, rather coolly” in a “clinical letter” the number was correct.
The issue was raised when Bakhurst and other RTÉ officials appeared at the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday. Bakhurst said he had spoken to Bailey and wanted to try to find a solution.
Bailey on Friday said she had requested a meeting with Bakhurst. In a statement read out on RTÉ radio, the director general said he was happy to meet her.
“I’m a single mother now with two very young children left in this precarious situation,” Bailey said.
“We’re good people. We’re honest, hardworking people. We just wanted what was fair and Seán just wanted to be treated correctly.
“He worked exceedingly hard, he had such pride in his work. He loved the artists of his country . . . He actually loved RTÉ and all the workers in there, so it’s just very difficult to, at the end of his days, that posthumously we’re being treated like this . . . Seán deserved better.”
