For a public service broadcaster that was on track to record an estimated deficit of almost €60 million last year, the "star" salaries at RTÉ were not only financially unsustainable, they were (and remain) offensive to many licence-fee payers.
Some of RTÉ’s most loyal audience have taken to witheringly working out the cost of individual broadcasters to taxpayers on a per-minute basis. For presenters such as weekend radio stalwart Marian Finucane, the figures have not flattered.
Meanwhile, the bubble-era incomes collected by RTÉ’s top current affairs presenters has meant their involvement in “we’re all in this together”-style debates on the new austerity do not exactly inspire warmth. Instead, it leaves Montrose looking out of touch with the population it is meant to serve.
Highest-paid earners
It also defies market logic. The occasional Ryan Tubridy stint on BBC Radio 2 does not negate the fact that most of RTÉ's highest-paid presenters are unlikely to be the subject of a bidding war from rival media companies. Nor are their skills so obviously rare that a more junior but ambitious layer of journalists and entertainers couldn't have their talents fostered for half the price.
The salaries also reveal a sharp gender skew at the top of the Irish media. Of the 13 people who have moved in and out of the top 10 highest paid presenters at RTÉ between 2008 and 2013, only two are women – Finucane and Miriam O’Callaghan. It might seem like a moot point to analyse who exactly is getting the big cheques when those cheques are problematically high, but if pay is reflective of status, then women do not have much of it in our national broadcaster. The men were and still are “worth” much, much more.
Although Pat Kenny’s fees for 2013 are yet to be finalised, RTÉ has already estimated that its total payments to the top 10 will arrive at €3 million this year – down the promised 30 per cent on the €4.45 million it shelled out to this group in 2008.
This is where the ongoing process of reducing top talent fee payments starts to more closely resemble a public relations fix, albeit an important one, than it does a major advance in the RTÉ cost-containment strategy: a €1.45 million saving will not eradicate RTÉ’s financial crisis by itself.
Crucially, though, it’s not the only action the broadcaster has taken. Operating costs last year were more than €100 million lower than they were in 2008 – a 24 per cent drop. Two separate voluntary redundancy schemes, while they add to the deficit in the short term, will bring about substantial long-term savings: RTÉ now employs fewer than 1,800 people, down from a 2008 peak of around 2,300.
BAI review
The outcome of the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland's current five-year funding review of public service media in Ireland could radically alter the service RTÉ provides to its audience.
If its advertising revenues continue to slump, further reductions in output may be necessary. If so, they will have to be matched with commitments to cut operating costs , including presenter payments, once again.
“Star” salaries may be an easy stick to beat RTÉ with, but that doesn’t mean it hasn’t deserved the hit.
