119 RTÉ staff members made over €100,000 last year, figures show

New figures published by Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTÉ) show that a total of 119 of its staff members earned over €100,000 in basic salary.

22 staff members earned between €150,000 and €250,000, while the remaining 97 earned between €100,000 and €150,000.

Meanwhile, a Trade Union Group is in the early stages of negotiations with RTÉ over staff pay.

RTÉ pointed out that the figures do not include the organisation's top earners, such as Joe Duffy, Ryan Tubridy and Ray D’Arcy as they are not RTE staff, but instead independent contractors and are paid through companies that they have established.

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Back in 2019, Ryan Tubridy received €495,000, followed by Ray D’Arcy who received €450,000 with Joe Duffy’s firm receiving €392,494.

One of the 22 RTE staff members in the €150,000 to €250,000 earning bracket in 2021 is RTÉ Director General, Dee Forbes.

It has also been reported that Ms Forbes had a a car allowance of €25,000, which along with pension contributions of €56,000 brought Ms Forbes’s overall package to €306,000.

RTÉ reported that the average pay at the organisation totalled €60,686 last year.

'LAZY NARRATIVE'

Commenting on these facts, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ), Séamus Dooley said: "The lazy narrative is that all RTÉ staff are over paid: the fact is there is not a high pay culture in RTÉ and there are many low paid grades across the organisation.”

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He also said that the Trade Union Group is in the early stages of negotiations with RTÉ.

"We will be pressing for a meaningful pay increase. Staff have not had a pay increase since 2007," he added.