BAK IN SPOTLIGHT
RTE salary scandal latest as 207 staff earn OVER €100k & Claire Byrne insists ‘nothing to hide’ after pay revelation
CRISIS-hit RTE are back in the spotlight after it emerged over 200 of its staff were paid more than €100,000 last year.
New figures from the broadcaster also detail how 18 workers were on more than €200,000.
Cash-strapped RTE declined to give a detailed breakdown of those earning between €225,000 and €300,000, in order to avoid identifying specific individuals.
But the station revealed overall 207 staff were earning over €100,000 at the end of 2025.
The latest revelation comes after controversy over Derek Mooney not being included on RTE’s list of its top ten highest-paid presenters, despite earning enough to be.
Broadcaster Claire Byrne was top of the earnings list, on €280,000 a year, before her move to Newstalk last year.
The former Today With Claire Byrne star insisted at the weekend that she “did nothing wrong” after it emerged RTE continued to pay her after she jumped ship to their rival.
Montrose recently said that Byrne and former host Ray D’Arcy continued to receive payments, which combined to a total of €97,000, after they left their roles.
Claire, 50, who revealed earlier this year that she moved jobs because she “wanted a change”, told Evoke at the VIP Style Awards on Saturday: “I was aware that it was coming out, and it is what it is, and people are entitled to know.
“I have absolutely nothing to hide. In fact, I told people what my salary was on my RTE radio show in the middle of all of the turmoil — I did all of that because I have done nothing wrong.
“That is why I asked the politicians who were on the committees on Friday, ‘Do you have any questions for me?’
“Neither of them had, but I’m quite happy if anybody else has questions for them to be answered, because it was a job and I did it, and now I’ve moved on.”
Her comments came after she addressed “the elephant in the room” while opening The Claire Byrne show last week.
She said: “I just want to explain to you how that happened — I resigned from RTE in the summer.
“My contract, though, ran until the end of the year, December 2025, and I made it clear I was happy to stay on and work there until the end of my contract.
“But RTE came to me and told me that they wanted me to finish up at the end of October.”
RTE’s new high earners data shows there were 12 people in a pay band between €225,000 and €300,000 at the end of 2025.
Another six got from €200,000 to €225,000, while nine trousered between €175,000 and €200,000.
A total of 13 people were paid between €150,000 and €175,000, while 27 picked up between €130,000 and €150,000.
The figures also showed that 24 people banked between €120,000 and €130,000.
In the range of €110,000 to €120,000, there were 59 people. And 57 workers took home between €100,000 and €110,000.
Apart from those big earners, a total of 330 people had salaries or fees of between €75,000 and €100,000, the FOI records show. Another 926 had payments that ranged from €50,000 to €75,000.
RTE also said there were 5,944 people who were paid sums up to €50,000, with the high number explained by the inclusion of all programme contributors.
In some cases, these people might be paid less than €100 for appearing for just a single time on a current affairs show.
They explained: “The reason that there are so many individuals in [this] bracket arises from the fact that all programme contributors are deemed to be contractors.”
On Thursday, it emerged that Derek Mooney had been previously excluded from RTE’s annual list of top ten presenter salaries as he was deemed to be a producer.
RTE’s Director General Kevin Bakhurst is now expected to meet with the Media Minister, Patrick O’Donovan, this week to explain the latest controversies.
Source: https://www.thesun.ie/news/16971423/rte-salary-scandal-claire-byrne-pay/
