RTÉ employee paid more than €10k for external work

RTÉ said of the 133 workers who embarked on external activities in the first three months of the year, 50%, or at least 66 of them, received no payment or other benefit for their services. Picture: Denis Minihane

More than 130 RTÉ employees were involved in approved external activities in the first quarter of 2024, the broadcaster has said, with one of those workers paid more than €10,000 for their services.

The station has published a ‘statistical summary’ of the external activities undertaken by its employees during the months of February and March. This is in lieu of producing a register with the names and individual payments involved in each job.

RTÉ said of the 133 workers who embarked on external activities in the first three months of the year, 50%, or at least 66 of them, received no payment or other benefit for their services.

A further 64 workers were paid between €1 and €5,000 for their time, while two received between €5,000 and €10,000 for their roles. One employee was paid more than €10,000 for the external work.

The figures suggest roughly €110,000 was paid out to those 67 workers by external interests in the first three months of the year.

The register of external interests was first raised as a proposal amid the scandal which enveloped RTÉ from June of 2023 onwards when it emerged former broadcaster Ryan Tubridy had been paid €150,000 surplus to his stated salary over two years after a commercial deal with Renault had foundered.

RTE director-general Kevin Bakhurst said he had initially hoped to publish the more detailed list of non-RTÉ jobs in order 'to provide greater transparency around external activities'.

That register had initially been set to be published last February, but was delayed for many months. RTÉ eventually said the list of activities could not be published with names and company details included as this would run contrary to data protection legislation.

RTÉ’s director-general Kevin Bakhurst said he had initially hoped to publish the more detailed list of non-RTÉ jobs in order “to provide greater transparency around external activities”.

He said the Data Protection Commission had made clear “specific legislative authority” would be required in order to publish that level of detail

Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ had made a written request of the Department of Media so such a law could be proceeded with.

The director general claimed the summary published on Thursday “provides a level of transparency that would not have been possible prior to the commencement of the register”.

He described as “notable” the fact that half of all the approved activities did not involve any payment or material benefit.

These are events where those working with RTÉ give freely of their time for charitable, sporting, community, academic and social reasons. 

He said it was “important” to note the actual compilation of a detailed register had not been impacted by the DPC’s concerns, and that “staff and contractors are still required to provide the relevant information when seeking approval for an external activity”, a fact he described as representative of “significant governance reforms” at RTÉ.

RTÉ will not be releasing any further details regarding the register of external activities, Mr Bakhurst added.

The publication of the statistical summary comes a week after the Government announced a €725m bailout for the troubled broadcaster over three years. 

It was likewise announced that RTÉ will continue to be funded by a combination of the existing television licence and direct funding from the exchequer.