Green Party Media Minister Catherine Martin has welcomed a new plan to cap RTÉ salaries at €250,000 – the salary of the Director General, Kevin Bakhurst.
The plan comes as Bakhurst outlines new plans to radically cut costs at the beleaguered broadcaster, including cutting as many as 400 jobs at RTÉ over the course of four years, cutting a number of digital stations and plus-one TV channels, updates to technologies that are used, and more. In total
Bakhurst said this week that the high salaries paid to RTÉ presenters had been a “toxic” and “corrosive” issue for the state broadcaster that required reform.
RTÉ plans to save €10 million next year.
Commenting on the revelation today, Minister Martin said that the plan demonstrated a “welcome renewed commitment” to public service broadcasting and to cost efficiencies.”
“I think it is only right that no-one would earn more than the leader of an organisation,” she said.
The news comes as the government approves a €56 million bailout for RTÉ, subject to certain key reforms.
The broadcaster has been in a financial tailspin since June, when it was revealed that RTÉ had not publicly declared substantial fees to its then-highest-paid earner, Ryan Tubridy.
Following a number of other related financial scandals, a large number of people refused to pay their TV license fee in protest, resulting in a substantial loss of revenue for the organisation.
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RTE should be defunded immediately. The Irish people should not have to fund this farcical excuse for a national broadcaster. Let it sink or swim.
Why a huge difference between salaries of politicians and top salaried government employees and those of many hard working professional people in the private sector? Perhaps it is time to reduce the former or publicly shame companies for the latter?
RTE overpay their so called stars. I hope the British people don’t search for Tubridy,s comments on Britain being a country of the past and how he was sick of kow-towing to the British message.
So not only is she lieing but she is backing bahkhursts lies aswell. The new DG of RTE is actually earning in excess of 320k per annum when all said and done. Even after all that has come out about this rotten organisation they are still willing to use a play on words to pull the wool over the publics eyes with full government backing. Absolutely abhorrent people.