RTÉ told to slash excessive pay of top stars
Communications Minister Pat Rabbitte expressed “concern” at RTÉ’s position. His Fianna Fáil counterpart, Michael Moynihan, accused the company of wasting public money and insisted the broadcaster had not done enough to cut the salaries of top names.
“Even in the boom time what they were paying top stars was completely out of sync with the real world, so percentage cuts on those levels still leave big names with excessive pay,” Mr Moyihan said.
“But there is a bigger issue of inefficiency. RTÉ has a huge and unique revenue from the taxpayer and still manages a huge deficit.”
Cuts in Pat Kenny’s salary, which peaked at €951,000 a year in 2008, are believed to have been a key factor in his decision to switch to Newstalk.
RTÉ top brass are to be called in to the Oireachtas when the Dáil returns in September to explain themselves to TDs, said Fine Gael chairman of the communications committee, John O’Mahony.
“RTÉ still has some way to go on the salaries issue. Obviously, the loss of Pat Kenny shows that there is a change in the environment there. But more still needs to be done. There are other areas that need attention, too, such as the situation with the orchestras. They have cost some €100m in the past six years and only brought in €15m,” Mr O’Mahony said.
RTÉ’s annual report showed an operating profit of €2.2m in 2012, and the broadcaster blamed the bulk of the deficit — €46m — on once-off restructuring costs, saying it expects to break even this year.
Mr Rabbitte singled out a fall in the broadcaster’s ability to generate revenue as a major problem.
His spokesman said: “He is concerned by the continuing decline in commercial revenue and his department is closely monitoring the financial position of RTÉ on an ongoing basis.”
Director general Noel Curran insisted RTÉ had cut its operating costs by €18.4m. “Although the restructuring has contributed to the deficit for 2012, I remain confident, notwithstanding a very difficult market environment, that the changes we have implemented have stabilised the financial base of the organisation,” he said.
The bulk of the restructuring costs came in voluntary redundancy deals for staff. Some 500 staff have left RTÉ since 2008 — a reduction of 21% — with 270 leaving in 2012.
Mr Rabbitte also welcomed editorial changes ordered by RTÉ in the wake of the controversial Prime Time Investigates programme, ‘Mission To Prey’.
The report showed that licence fee revenue was down €3m to €180.9m, while commercial revenue dropped €11m to €156m.
“The restructuring undertaken in the last two years has been difficult but will now enable RTÉ to return to financial stability this year,” Mr Curran said.
