RTÉ publishes top 10 earners list for 2022, with Ryan Tubridy, Joe Duffy and Claire Byrne topping list

Former The Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy earned €515,000 in 2022 – made up of his €440,000 radio and TV salary and a now infamous €75,000 that he was paid under a previously undisclosed sponsorship deal.

Following the now-departed Tubridy is Liveline’s Joe Duffy, who was paid a total of €315,000 in 2022, the same amount as the year previous.

In the midst of the RTÉ payments controversy last summer, Mr Duffy revealed that his 2023 salary was €351,000 – which includes €300,000 for his radio work, and €51,000 for TV presenting.

The third highest earner for the year was Claire Byrne, who was paid €320,883 in 2022, having earned €350,000 the year before.

Claire Byrne was previously on €350,000 but took a reduction after giving up her Monday night television programme mid-way through 2022. This saw her RTÉ payment for that year fall to €320,000. However, her contracted fee for 2023 was €280,000.

Ms Byrne told the Irish Independent: “As I said publicly last year, my fee, since I stopped presenting Claire Byrne Live is €280,000. Today’s published figure represents a short period of time in 2022 when I was being paid for TV and radio.”

Prime Time presenter Miriam O’Callaghan earned €263,000 in 2022, which was unchanged from the previous year.

She also announced her salary last number, clarifying that her published earnings of €263,500 was correct, “as are the published fees for previous years. I have never received additional payments from RTE that were not publicly declared.”

Ray Darcy earned €250,000 in 2022, a €100,000 drop from the previous year.

Mr D’Arcy had already announced that his pay had dropped from €305,000 in 2020 and 2021, to €250,000 per year in 2022. The radio presenter was one of a number who disclosed his salary last summer, in the midst of payments crisis.

Outside the top five, Brendan O’Connor was paid €245,000 in 2022 and the same the year before.

The top six earners are and were all contractors.

The seventh best paid was former newsreader and News At One presenter Bryan Dobson, who recently announced that he will retire early from the broadcaster in May.

He was the top paid employee at the station for 2022, earning €209,681, marking a small increase on his earnings which totalled €209,282 for 2021.

Morning Ireland presenter Mary Wilson was in eight place in 2022, earning €197,643, a slight increase from the previous year when she was paid €196,961.

Darragh Maloney earned €183,738 in 2021, this figure rose to €184,501 in 2022.

The tenth highest paid on-air earner at RTÉ in 2022 was RTÉ’s Environment Correspondent George Lee who paid €179,821 in 2022, slightly more than the €179,131 earned for 2021.

RTÉ has clarified that all earnings include salary and do not include employer pension contributions and other benefits.

The list was long-awaited but the figures only cover 2022 – the year before plans for a €250,000 salary cap was announced by RTÉ in the midst of the payments scandal. The figures also don’t represent a number of major changes to the broadcaster’s schedule – including the high profile departure of its top paid star Ryan Tubridy, and the €250,000 salary of new Late Late Show presenter Patrick Kielty.

The top ten earners list represents the salaries paid to broadcasters the year before the RTÉ payments scandal hit. In the wake of the controversy last year, Director General Kevin Bakhust had announced a plan to cap salaries at €250,000. Mr Bakhurst said that under the cost-cutting measure, anyone at RTÉ earning over €250,000 would have their pay reduced below the cap once their contract is up for renewal.

According to the 2022 figures, the new cap would only affect Joe Duffy, Claire Byrne and Miriam O’Callaghan, when their contracts come up for renewal.

Based on the figures published on Monday and with Tubridy’s departure, the €250,000 salary of new Late Late Show presenter Patrick Kielty would make him the joint fourth highest paid presenter in the national broadcaster.

On Sunday, Oliver Callan was revealed as the new presenter for the 9am weekday slot on RTÉ Radio 1 – formerly the Ryan Tubridy show. Speaking to Brendan O’Connor, Mr Callan said that he was offered a shorter two year contract and a salary of €150,000. He said that while this would not be a “top ten” salary in RTÉ at the moment, it was likely to be at some point in the future as top salaries are cut.

“It wouldn’t put me in the top ten presenters at the moment, but you know we are in a whole new world. And I didn’t negotiate on the money, there was no negotiation on it because there was a pile of people who wanted to do the job. So it’s not a top ten thing now, it wouldn’t be close to it … but it probably will be, at some point in the future,” Mr Callan said.

“I’m kind of the first, post-new RTÉ contract I suppose aren’t I?”

RTÉ Deputy Director-General Adrian Lynch said: “As previously confirmed by Kevin Bakhurst, going forward, details of RTÉ’s highest paid presenters will be published annually as part of RTÉ’s Annual Report starting with RTÉ’s 2023 Annual Report which will be published later this year.

“While RTÉ has committed to reducing the cost of its highest paid presenters to ensure that no contractors or employees will earn more than the Director-General, our presenters play an important role in RTÉ’s provision of vital news, information and entertainment to audiences right across the country and enable us to generate commercial revenue which is essential to fund RTÉ’s public services.”