RTÉ has revealed Ryan Tubridy is the highest paid presenter, billing €495,000 a year for his daily radio show and Late Late Show.
Ryan, nick named Tubs, is no stranger to having his salary in the public domain, and was once the subject of a hate campaign on Facebook after it was revealed he was on a €1m salary.
His current fee represents a 32% reduction against his earnings in 2011.
The audited figures have been released along with a message that RTÉ is on target to achieve over 30% savings on its top 10 presenter fees, but only include those presenters whose contracts have been negotiated.
Also in the top 10 list is Miriam O’Callaghan – host of the Sunday morning Miriam Meets show on Radio 1 who earns €211,167 per year, and Radio 1 lunch time host Joe Duffy who bills for €300,000 per annum.
It also shows that 2fm presenter Colm Hayes, who is on-air each weekday 11am till 1pm, is paid €170,000 and Radio 1’s Marian Finucane is taking a yearly amount of €295,000.
All these fees are around 20-30% less than they were in 2008. In 2011 the Director General, Noel Curran, committed to reducing top presenter fees by 30% on 2008 levels.
He said: “Today’s release sees RTÉ achieve our commitment. The reductions come as part of a comprehensive programme of reform across the organisation, with increased levels of efficiency and resourcefulness at its core. RTÉ, like the general public, continues to hugely value the contribution our presenters make to our public service.”
The total Top 10 presenter payments represents just over 1% of RTÉ’s operating costs in 2012 and approximately 2% of personnel related operating costs. RTÉ has reduced its 2012 operating cost levels by over €100m compared to 2008 levels, which is a reduction of 24%.