What happened at the committee?<\/p>\n
![\"RTÉ](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/X5H7FWUX4CV7UHYOYN7SD5BQO4.JPG\")
RT\u00c9 director general Kevin Bakhurst (left) and deputy director general Adrian Lynch arrive at Leinster House on Wednesday. Photograph: Sam Boal\/Collins <\/p>\n
RT\u00c9 representatives, including director general Kevin Bakhurst<\/b>, spoke before an Oireachtas Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications and Sport.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst said in his opening remarks it is \u201cregrettable\u201d that a \u201csincere attempt\u201d<\/b> by the national broadcaster to be more transparent has been categorised as another scandal.<\/p>\n
It was revealed the broadcaster\u2019s former director general Dee Forbes<\/b> was the one who gave instructions to categorise Derek Mooney<\/b> as a producer rather than a presenter for the purpose of presenting his salary.<\/p>\n
The committee heard that radio host Oliver Callan<\/b> is in receipt of a second payment from RT\u00c9. Callan is paid for his role presenting RT\u00c9 Radio 1 programme and receives further compensation for the production of the satirical Callan\u2019s Kicks show.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst told the committee that some in RT\u00c9 could be earning more than him<\/b> when all their payments are accounted for. Bakhurst\u2019s basic salary is \u20ac250,000.<\/p>\n
Sarah Burns – 2 hours ago<\/p>\n
Bakhurst says some in RT\u00c9 could be earning more than him<\/p>\n
Kevin Bakhurst has said that some people in RT\u00c9 could be earning more than him when all payments are included. <\/p>\n
He told the chair of the Oireachtas media committee, Labour TD Alan Kelly, who was asking Bakhurst about presenting the totality of payments to people working in RT\u00c9 when payments such as those made for producing shows separately to a core fee are included. <\/p>\n
Kelly also raised the case of Sean Rocks, the former RT\u00c9 presenter who died last year. <\/p>\n
Kelly\u2019s Labour Party colleague Marie Sherlock has said the treatment of Rocks\u2019s pay has left his family financially worse off after his death, and Kelly told Bakhurst that they will be forced to leave their home in July. <\/p>\n
Kelly described the situation in RT\u00c9 as a \u201cmess\u201d telling Bakhurst it was \u201ctime to deal with it\u201d. He said the Sean Rocks situation was \u201chorrendous\u201d, adding that the former presenter \u201cpaid for his loyalty, he paid for th e love of his work\u201d. <\/p>\n
Bakhurst said he had met with Rocks\u2019s partner but suggested that he had to have set rules regarding the treatment of pensions for those who die while working for RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n
Bakhurst also faced scrutiny over the level of payments to Derek Mooney and also RT\u00c9\u2019s environment correspondent, George Lee. <\/p>\n
The committee was told that Mooney was given a \u201cpersonal contract\u201d in 2007 at which point he diverged from regular salary scales. <\/p>\n
The committee was told that Lee has been receiving standard increment payments made to all staff in recent years, although Fianna F\u00e1il senator Alison Comyn said she wanted to know the \u201cpath\u201d which had led to Lee\u2019s salary being what it is. <\/p>\n
Fine Gael Senator Evanne Ni Chuilieann raised her personal experience as a worker in RT\u00c9, saying she asked \u201crepeatedly\u201d to be reclassified and that the RT\u00c9 system was a \u201ctwo tier\u201d approach. \u201cIt\u2019s the wrong model and it\u2019s not fair.\u201d <\/p>\n
Bakhurst was asked by Fianna F\u00e1il TD Malcolm Byrne about the number of people earning more than \u20ac100,000 per year, figures reported by The Irish Times this morning. <\/p>\n
He said that many of these peoples\u2019 salary would be less than \u20ac100,000 as earnings included pensions, while others had moved over the six figure threshold due to pay agreements in place. <\/p>\n
The committee also heard details around the size of the RT\u00c9 contingent that went to cover Ireland\u2019s world cup semi final playoff against Czechia in Prague \u2013 with 41 people going. <\/p>\n
Bakhurst justified this on the basis that there was a strong public interest argument in covering a national event of this scale. <\/p>\n
He said 21 radio staff went at a cost of around \u20ac25,000, but that due to commercial revenue associated with the trip, this element turned a profit.<\/p>\n
The costings for the non-radio side of the delegation weren\u2019t available yet, he said. <\/p>\n
There was also an update on the legacy of the Ryan Tubridy scandal, including ongoing efforts by the former presenter and his agent Noel Kelly to secure documents from RT\u00c9. <\/p>\n
Bakhurst said thousands of documents had been handed over but that the pair had appealed the matter to the Data Protection Commissioner. <\/p>\n
He said RT\u00c9 was refusing to hand over legally privileged documents, adding that the organisation had paid over \u20ac100,000 for legal advice arising from Tubridy and Kelly\u2019s challenge. <\/p>\n
Bakhurst rejected comparisons between Derek Mooney\u2019s situation and that which related to Ryan Tubridy, saying the former was a categorisation issue and the latter involved secret payments.<\/p>\n
Sarah Burns – 3 hours ago<\/p>\n
Oliver Callan in receipt of second payment for production of satirical show<\/p>\n
Kevin Bakhurst has told the Oireachtas media committee that Oliver Callan, host of the midmorning slot on RT\u00c9 Radio 1, is in receipt of a second payment for the production of his Callan\u2019s Kicks satirical show. <\/p>\n
He told Fine Gael\u2019s Miche\u00e1l Carrigy there are some presenters who work for \u201cindependents\u201d \u2013 independent production companies \u2013 and they are paid separately from their direct work. <\/p>\n
\u201cHe earns as a presenter and he has a payment for Callan\u2019s Kicks.\u201d When it was put to him that if these two payments were taken on a combined basis, this would put Callan into the top 10 earners from the organisation, Bakhurst agreed: \u201cHe might be \u2013 he would be.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n
Dee Forbes instructed Derek Mooney be considered a producer<\/p>\n
Former RT\u00c9 director general Dee Forbes instructed that Derek Mooney be considered a producer for purposes of presenting his wages, an Oireachtas committee has heard. <\/p>\n
RT\u00c9\u2019s current director general, along with top Montrose executives, is appearing before the Oireachtas media committee today, Jack Horgan-Jones writes. <\/p>\n
Asked about Mooney\u2019s pay, Bakhurst said that in 2020 Forbes as director general and the then chief financial officer \u201clooked at his contract\u201d and decided the balance of his work was as a radio producer. \u201cWe took a different view,\u201d Bakhurst said. <\/p>\n
RT\u00c9 deputy director general Adrian Lynch told Sinn F\u00e9in TD Joanna Byrne that he looked into the relevant files in RT\u00c9, which said there was an instruction given to a person in RT\u00c9 payments. \u201cPer DG [director general] he was to be classified as a presenter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Forbes, who was a central player in the RT\u00c9 payments scandal of recent years, never appeared before an Oireachtas committee on the matter. <\/p>\n
Earlier, Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan asked Bakhurst if he felt RT\u00c9 was fit for purpose, and criticising what he characterised as a \u201cdrip drip\u201d of scandal, also asked him if he felt he was the right person to lead the broadcaster. <\/p>\n
Bakhurst responded that he had driven extra transparency measures in the organisation. He also said he was sure that an issue similar to that relating to Mooney\u2019s pay did not exist in relation to other high earners in RT\u00c9, saying he had taken Minister for Communications Patrick O\u2019Donovan through the top 30 earners yesterday and showed nothing similar was in place. <\/p>\n
Bakhurst said Mooney did not benefit financially from the manner in which his pay was presented.<\/p>\n
Sarah Burns – 4 hours ago<\/p>\n
\u2018Regrettable\u2019 attempt to be more open categorised as scandal – Bakhurst <\/p>\n
RT\u00c9\u2019s director general Kevin Bakhurst is due to tell an Oireachtas committee it is \u201cregrettable\u201d that a \u201csincere attempt to be more open\u201d has come to be categorised as a scandal. <\/p>\n
In the statement circulated to members of the Oireachtas media committee, Bakhurst says the multiannual commitment to \u20ac725 million of secure funding across three years is \u201cnot, as has been termed, a \u2018bailout\u2019\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cComprising of both licence fee, and exchequer funding, this funding is a critical financial support to a national public service,\u201d he says. <\/p>\n
\u201cTo describe this as a \u2018bailout\u2019 is at best misleading. At worst it suggests that the organisation is only worthy of support as a mitigation against financial crisis.\u201d <\/p>\n
RT\u00c9 executives are due to address the committee shortly. <\/p>\n
![\"RTÉ](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/YLM2JTBAKSPQS7KJZ2C3V7F4E4.jpg\")
RT\u00c9 director general Kevin Bakhurst speaks to the media following a meeting with Minister for Culture, Communications and Sport Patrick O’Donovan on Tuesday. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire <\/p>\n
Sarah Burns – 5 hours ago<\/p>\n
Oireachtas committee another chance for RT\u00c9 to be fully transparent, says T\u00e1naiste <\/p>\n
This afternoon\u2019s meeting of the Oireachtas Media Committee and representatives from RT\u00c9 is another chance for the national broadcaster to be fully transparent and address controversy about pay at the station, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris has said. <\/p>\n
The Joint Committee on Arts, Media, Communications and Sport is due to meet representatives from RT\u00c9 at 12.30pm to discuss funding and pensions at the station. <\/p>\n
Speaking at the turning of the sod at a housing development in Killinarden in Dublin, Harris said RT\u00c9 director general Kevin Bakhurst \u201cis doing a good job in difficult circumstances\u201d, Tim O\u2019Brien reports. <\/p>\n
But he said \u201cI don\u2019t want us to find ourselves in this kind of \u2013 I used the phrase yesterday \u2013 Groundhog Day.\u201d <\/p>\n
Harris said most people believed RT\u00c9 had been fully transparent about pay rates for presenters after previous controversies \u201cbut I don\u2019t want to find ourselves back in this situation again\u201d. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope today\u2019s committee meeting genuinely helps to do that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
\u201cRT\u00c9 is certainly not paying a price for being transparent. It\u2019s important to be transparent and I do think there\u2019s a logic in everybody\u2019s interest in publishing as much information as possible. <\/p>\n
\u201cNow I am concerned, I have to be honest, I am still concerned, with the fact that it appears based on information we\u2019ve all read and heard that some producers\/presenters were treated differently to others, and I think there\u2019s a fairness issue there. <\/p>\n
\u201cI think there\u2019s just a fairness issue in relation to making sure that there\u2019s a consistency in terms of how everybody is treated. Everybody wants journalism to be a good and viable career. We need it to be actually in an era of disinformation and misinformation. It is more important than ever that we have a strong and robust media. So, I, as a Government Minister, don\u2019t wish to be provided running commentary on RT\u00c9.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want RT\u00c9 to be there doing its job, and the people of Ireland value it too. So, today is a chance to put as much information out to the public domain as possible, and I think I\u2019d ask everybody in RT\u00c9, from the department, the Oireachtas to kind of dig deep here to try and just find a way that we can move this forward quickly without this drip feed of kind of salacious information.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"Tánaiste](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/Y72NJ76JTEP6NCTDIQWH7XCTKA.jpg\")
T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris speaks to the media as he arrives for a Cabinet meeting at Government Buildings in Dublin on Tuesday. Photograph: Brian Lawless\/PA Wire <\/p>\n
Sarah Burns – 5 hours ago<\/p>\n
Full list of candidates in both constituenciesDublin Central<\/p>\n
- \n
- Janice Boylan \u2013 Sinn F\u00e9in<\/li>\n
- Tony Corrigan \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Daniel Ennis \u2013 Social Democrats<\/li>\n
- Mannix Flynn \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Colm Flood \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Janet Horner \u2013 Green Party<\/li>\n
- Gerry Hutch \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Ray McAdam \u2013 Fine Gael<\/li>\n
- Eoghan \u00d3 Ceannabh\u00e1in \u2013 People Before Profit-Solidarity<\/li>\n
- Ruth O\u2019Dea \u2013 Labour Party<\/li>\n
- John O\u2019Leary \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Ian Noel Smyth \u2013 Aont\u00fa<\/li>\n
- Malachy Steenson \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- John Stephens \u2013 Fianna F\u00e1il<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Galway West<\/p>\n
- \n
- N\u00e9ill Bair\u00e9ad \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- AJ Cahill \u2013 The Irish People<\/li>\n
- Mike Cubbard \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Patrick Feeney \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Sheila Garrity \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Cillian Keane \u2013 Fianna F\u00e1il<\/li>\n
- Se\u00e1n Kyne \u2013 Fine Gael<\/li>\n
- Mark Lohan \u2013 Sinn F\u00e9in<\/li>\n
- Niall Murphy \u2013 Green Party<\/li>\n
- M\u00edde Nic Fhionnlaoich \u2013 Social Democrats<\/li>\n
- Orla Nugent \u2013 Aont\u00fa<\/li>\n
- Helen Ogbu \u2013 Labour Party<\/li>\n
- John O\u2019Leary \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Denman Rooke \u2013 People Before Profit-Solidarity<\/li>\n
- Michael Ryan \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n
- Noel Thomas \u2013 Independent Ireland<\/li>\n
- Thomas Welby \u2013 Independent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Sarah Burns – 8 hours ago<\/p>\n
Elsewhere, the number of RT\u00c9 workers earning more than \u20ac100,000 annually grew by more than a third in the last five years.<\/p>\n
Figures released by the broadcaster following queries from The Irish Times show that for total earnings \u2013 including pensions, salaries and allowances \u2013 there were 270 employees earning more than six figures at the organisation in 2020.<\/p>\n
Montrose executives will appear before the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Cabinet approved draft laws bringing RT\u00c9 under the supervision of the State\u2019s spending watchdog, the Comptroller and Auditor General, alongside several other measures the Coalition said would improve transparency and oversight.<\/p>\n
![\"Gerry](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/EIOEAMAPDPDDZUH34DNEIDHTRY.jpg\")
Gerry Hutch with Siptu member carers from Blanchardstown and Inner City Healthcare pictured on the picket line outside North Park in Finglas. Photograph: Colin Keegan\/Collins <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Main Points Representatives from RT\u00c9, including director general Kevin Bakhurst, are speaking at a Joint Committee on Arts,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":494379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[49,9,10,106968,18,13,14,4771,553,167920,6,19,7062,17,11,12,15,16,5,47,18578,7,8],"class_list":["post-494378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-aontu","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-dublin-central-constituency","tag-eire","tag-featured-news","tag-featurednews","tag-fianna-fail","tag-fine-gael","tag-galway-west-constituency","tag-headlines","tag-ie","tag-independent-ireland","tag-ireland","tag-latest-news","tag-latestnews","tag-main-news","tag-mainnews","tag-news","tag-sinn-fein","tag-social-democrats","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116607824588144527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494378","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=494378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/494379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}