{"id":318846,"date":"2026-02-03T23:43:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/318846\/"},"modified":"2026-02-03T23:43:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T23:43:09","slug":"for-many-years-the-level-of-presenter-pay-at-rte-got-a-little-bit-out-of-control-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/318846\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018For many years the level of presenter pay at RT\u00c9 got a little bit out of control\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

RT\u00c9<\/a> has not had any difficulty filling top presenter roles despite the salary cap, Kevin Bakhurst<\/a> has said. <\/p>\n

The director general of the broadcaster also said Claire Byrne<\/a>, who left RT\u00c9 for Newstalk<\/a>, had not been \u201cadmonished\u201d by the introduction of the pay ceiling.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was not being admonished. Yes, she would have had to take a pay cut from what she was earning if she had stayed. She and I discussed it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cHave we had a problem filling her [role] or other roles with the pay cap? Not at all. We pay enough to get absolute top-class presenters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Byrne, who began her new morning show<\/a> on rival broadcaster Newstalk on Tuesday, had told the Sunday Independent that the pay cap \u201cfelt like the organisation was wagging its finger at me\u201d and that she was \u201cin trouble\u201d.<\/p>\n

Byrne was paid \u20ac280,000 by RT\u00c9 in 2024. However, Bakhurst announced in 2023 that, once contracts were renegotiated, no presenter at the national broadcaster would earn more than his own basic salary, which stands at \u20ac250,000.<\/p>\n

The measure came as he sought to restore trust after the failure of RT\u00c9\u2019s previous management to disclose properly the pay of former presenter Ryan Tubridy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor many years the level of presenter pay at RT\u00c9 got a little bit out of control and caused a lot of anger and upset, and a lack of trust with the audience and with politicians, and we had to deal with that,\u201d Bakhurst said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know from our audience research that it is not mentioned as an issue now.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also disagreed with Byrne\u2019s claim there had been an \u201ceditorial nervousness\u201d within RT\u00c9 since the pay scandal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know our editorial teams, and our programme teams, and I know the challenging topics we deal with. I know the courage that the investigations teams show and our news teams show day after day,\u201d Bakhurst said.<\/p>\n

One topic he has looked into is coverage of transgender issues.<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked a few programme teams about why they hadn\u2019t done a particular story, which was actually in the UK. Individually, two or three programme teams I spoke to said there were other stories they thought were more important on the day,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wanted to be sure that we were not just leaving it because it is too difficult, too delicate. It is an important current topic and there are others. <\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time you do any coverage of things like Gaza and the Middle East, it\u2019s delicate and tricky. Do we shy away from doing it? Not at all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bakhurst this week gave a round of media interviews that were postponed from late 2025 but were arranged before Byrne\u2019s comments were published.<\/p>\n

His total remuneration in 2024, including a car allowance and pension contributions, stood at \u20ac340,000. Under new Government pay structures, his basic salary could be in line to increase \u20ac50,000 to \u20ac300,000.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 employees have noted a disparity between this 20 per cent rise and the 6 per cent pay increase its unions fought to secure for the period between last May and the end of 2027.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn fairness, pay across the organisation is really important, and we\u2019ve already looked at a couple of areas since I\u2019ve been here where I felt people were not being paid fairly, including Raidi\u00f3 na Gaeltachta<\/a>. We have corrected that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bakhurst said executive pay and presenter pay could be \u201cchallenging\u201d, and this was reflected in Mari Hurley\u2019s decision to step down<\/a> as chief financial officer to take up a higher paid role. But there was a \u201cjudgment call\u201d to be made, he said.<\/p>\n

Amid a plan to slash personnel costs and commission more content from the independent production sector, RT\u00c9 is hoping to receive approval from the Department of Culture<\/a> for a fresh voluntary exit programme.<\/p>\n

About 100 people left the broadcaster<\/a> in 2025, through redundancies and retirements. There is no specific target for 2026, but the plan to reduce staff numbers by 400 over a five-year period remains.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 is also in talks with the Government about shrinking back its presence at its Donnybrook campus in Dublin, which will eventually mean production of the Late Late Show<\/a> and soap opera Fair City moves off-site.<\/p>\n

Its three-year agreement for guaranteed public funding expires at the end of 2027, meaning it will need a new funding deal to continue operating.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will have to start those discussions. We\u2019ve had very early discussions. This is a five-year strategy, and the multiyear funding we\u2019ve had for the first three years has been unbelievably helpful in terms of allowing us a certainty on commissioning programmes and big digital investments. To see the strategy through we are going to need a certain level of funding, but that\u2019s as far as we\u2019ve got,\u201d Bakhurst said.<\/p>\n

RT\u00c9 will receive \u20ac260 million of funding next year. It will not seek more than \u20ac260 million, \u201cmaybe with inflation\u201d, in 2028 and 2029.<\/p>\n

Responding to remarks made by Tubridy to The Irish Times last month, Bakhurst denied the RT\u00c9 board had pushed him to part ways with the presenter, nor was he disappointed to see news reports highlighting his meeting with Tubridy last autumn.<\/p>\n

\u201cFunnily enough I said to him in the meeting if people ask if I met Ryan Tubridy, which I get asked every time I do an interview, I\u2019m very happy to say I met you for a coffee,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

He has not met the former Late Late host since. RT\u00c9 has also \u201cnot yet\u201d agreed a fresh contract with Tubridy\u2019s Late Late successor, Patrick Kielty<\/a>, whose initial three-year deal expires this summer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve made it really clear to Patrick that we all think he\u2019s doing a great job, and we would like to continue that,\u201d Bakhurst said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"RT\u00c9 has not had any difficulty filling top presenter roles despite the salary cap, Kevin Bakhurst has said.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":318847,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[75],"tags":[23898,18,117,19,17,16036,48706,5287,3409,1181,26666],"class_list":{"0":"post-318846","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-claire-byrne","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-entertainment","11":"tag-ie","12":"tag-ireland","13":"tag-kevin-bakhurst","14":"tag-late-late-show","15":"tag-newstalk-radio","16":"tag-patrick-kielty","17":"tag-rte","18":"tag-ryan-tubridy"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116009356886039335","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318846","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=318846"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/318846\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/318847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=318846"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=318846"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=318846"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}