Accumulated profits at firm owned by RTÉ's Joe Duffy increase to €583,000

Joe Duffy became RTÉ’s best-paid presenter after the departure of Ryan Tubridy from RTÉ last summer.

Accumulated profits at the firm co-owned by RTÉ’s best-paid broadcaster Joe Duffy last year increased to just over €583,000.

New accounts for Duffy’s Claddaghgreen Ltd show the company’s accumulated profits increased by €62,645 from €520,441 to €583,086 in the 12 months to the end of April 30 last.

The post-tax profit of €62,645 is almost three times the €23,647 post-tax profit recorded the previous year.

Last year, the firm’s cash pile declined from €529,322 to €392,169 while money owed to the company by debtors rose sharply, from a modest €1,542 to €217,941.

Duffy sits on the board of the firm with his wife, June Meehan, and the directors last year shared "remuneration and other benefits" of €270,000.

The directors’ pay was at the same level as 2022.

Duffy — who celebrates his 68th birthday later this month — became RTÉ’s best-paid presenter after the departure of Ryan Tubridy from RTÉ last summer arising from the fall-out from the RTÉ payments scandal.

The most recent top 10 figures released by RTÉ in February of last year show Duffy was paid €351,000 in 2021 for his Liveline and TV work for the national broadcaster.

The €351,000 payout to the Ballyfermot man was down on the broadcaster’s €360,650 pay for 2020, €392,494 for 2019 and €404,988 for 2018.

The figures show since 2018, Duffy has been paid more than €1,000 per week less by RTÉ as his pay has dropped by a cumulative €53,933, or 13%, across the four years.

Last year, Duffy extended his contract with RTÉ 11 weeks before the payments scandal erupted and the agreement continues until next year.

In November, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst announced a €250,000 cap on salaries that is to apply to new and renewed contracts as part of cost-cutting at the station.

When the payments controversy first emerged last June, Duffy told his Liveline listeners how much he was paid.

He said “the figures that are on my contract are the exact figures I receive,” explaining he is paid €351,000 a year.

That is broken down to a fee of €300,000 for his radio work and €51,000 for television.

Liveline is one of the most popular weekday non-news radio shows in the country

Duffy said he had signed his current four-year contract in 2019 and this year agreed to a two-year extension.

He said the extended contract operated under the “exact same conditions, no changes and no increases”.

In 2019, RTÉ inserted a clause into the contract that would allow the broadcaster to extend the arrangement until 2025.

The most recent JNLR figures show 302,000 listeners were tuning in every weekday to Liveline, making it one of the most popular weekday non-news radio shows in the country.

Mr Duffy is not a paid employee of RTÉ but is instead employed as a contractor.

Previously, Duffy revealed that in 2016 he turned down an offer from rival independent station Newstalk “much greater” than his current salary at the State broadcaster.

Mr Duffy said he had received a “very significant offer from Newstalk”, and he and his wife, June, had several meetings with Newstalk and had met with its then owner, Denis O’Brien.

Mr Duffy said he had ultimately turned down an “absolutely incredible” offer because, he said, “I believe in RTÉ [and] I believe in public service”.

Defending his salary in the press interview, Duffy said he was employed as a contractor, and as such he had negotiated his salary “fair and square”, adding he knew that he is well-paid, but he never encounters “begrudgery” himself.

He said: “I just know from where my own family came from, I’m well-paid … [but when] I used to go up to Ballyfermot once a week, it was never once said to me.

“In fact, people say ‘Fair play to you, why shouldn’t you? If other people are getting it at that level, why shouldn’t you?’" 

Duffy also presents the interview programme The Meaning of Life on RTÉ television and is a best-selling author.

Each year, Liveline generates substantial advertising revenues for the State broadcaster but RTÉ does not provide a breakdown of advertising revenues generated by each show.

Born in Dublin in 1956, Duffy joined RTÉ radio as a producer in 1989. Since then, the father of triplets has worked his way through several shows, first as a reporter on The Gay Byrne Show and then as presenter of several programmes.