Pay at Miriam O’Callaghan’s media firm up 21%

One of RTÉ’s top earners, Miriam O’Callaghan, shared in a bumper 21% pay rise at her media firm last year, with directors enjoying a pay-pot of €204,238.

That’s according to new figures filed by Baby Blue Productions Ltd with the Companies Office, showing pay to the firm’s two directors, Miriam O’Callaghan and her daughter, Alannah McGurk, jumped by €35,945 from €168,293 up to €204,238.

Ms O’Callaghan, through payments made by RTÉ to her Baby Blue Productions firm for her presenting work, would receive the vast majority, if not all, of the directors’ pay, though no breakdown is provided in the accounts.

The most recent RTÉ figures published in relation to pay for its top stars show the Prime Time presenter received pay of €280,445 in 2014, representing a drop of €21,222 in 2008. The mother of eight, aged 56, was the fifth-best paid RTÉ presenter in 2014 and was chosen by station bosses to chair the final leaders’ debate in the recent election campaign.

Along with presenting Prime Time, the Dubliner presents one of RTÉ’s most popular radio shows, Sunday with Miriam, and in the year under review secured one of the news scoops of the year when Fine Gael minister Leo Varadkar came out to the public as a gay man on her Sunday morning show.

The most recent JNLR figures show that Ms O’Callaghan had the 10th-most popular show with 265,000 listeners, which represented a 39,000 increase year-on-year. The figures for Baby Blue Productions are for the 12 months to the end of last December and show that that total employment costs at the firm last year jumped from €203,720 to €240,065.

The breakdown shows €204,238 was paid to directors; €31,546 was paid in wages and salaries, with €3,391 paid in social welfare costs and €890 in training. The accounts state that it employs two people in sales and administration.

The firm has not previously disclosed directors’ pay but must now do so to comply with the provisions of the Companies Act 2014. The accounts show that at the end of last December, the firm’s accumulated profits had increased marginally, from €27,080 to €35,938. The accounts were signed off by Ms O’Callaghan and Ms McGurk on May 5 .

In an interview in 2013 about RTÉ’s top-paid stars, Ms O’Callaghan said: “I can understand people saying people are paid too much inside RTÉ. Particularly if you’re just trying to exist. All I ever say is, I didn’t go into journalism for money. But I just do my job to work hard and to do tough interviews.”