RTÉ 'can't overstate' importance of Fair City photographer as it clarifies €240k contract

RTÉ said “popular soaps, such as Fair City, with multiple characters and multiple unfolding storylines have a sustained need for high-quality imagery across the year”.

RTÉ has moved to clarify the nature of a contract for a photographer to capture stills of long-running soap opera Fair City, and said it “cannot overstate” the importance of that role.

Earlier this week the Irish Examiner revealed that the public broadcaster was to spend €240,000 retaining a professional photographer to capture still images of the soap while in production.

The role was to require a 20-hour week from the successful candidate, over the course of three days, for 50 weeks of the year, to produce a minimum of 16 stills of the show.

At a meeting of the Oireachtas Media Committee on Wednesday, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst, who spent much of the meeting discussing cost-cutting at the beleaguered broadcaster, said that he wanted to “know more about that” when quizzed about the Fair City contract.

“I have asked that question. I want to know exactly what the deal is,” he said, adding that he could “not believe that, on the face of it, it is as published”.

“I cannot believe it is just for the work as described in one line,” Mr Bakhurst said.

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In a statement on Thursday however, RTÉ moved to add context to the matter, and said of the contract that “popular soaps, such as Fair City, with multiple characters and multiple unfolding storylines have a sustained need for high-quality imagery across the year”.

“This imagery is then used across a variety of media outlets to help drive audiences to the show as viewers can now decide ‘what to watch’ based on the promotional image that appears on their platform,” the broadcaster said in a statement.

Executive producer of the soap, Brigie de Courcy, added: “I cannot overstate the importance of high-quality, highly-curated photography in promoting Fair City in the busy landscape of press and digital publicity.

Ms de Courcy said:

It is vital to have a skilled photographer to capture, in single frames, moments of drama that will intrigue our regular audience, and bring new viewers to Fair City.

RTÉ said that the €240,000 would be payable at a rate of €60,000 per year over three years, with the possibility of a one-year extension. It said that the tender was a repeat contract and that the services “have been purchased previously under other contracts”.

“A contract awarded under tender represents better value to RTÉ than engaging professional photographers on an ad hoc basis,” it said.

The broadcaster added that Fair City “is Ireland’s most popular soap”, with views of its episodes on the RTE Player “up 40% year-on-year”.

Fair City, set in the fictional north Dublin suburb of Carrigstown, has been on the air since its launch in 1989, and is the longest-running drama in Irish TV history.

One news photographer the Irish Examiner consulted was incredulous at the salary of €60,000 per annum for a 20-hour week, however.

“It is seriously a gravy train, whoever gets that gig will have died and gone to heaven. For 16 stills a week? It’s money for jam, absolutely ridiculous,” they said.