RTÉ payment scandal deepens as media minister summons Kevin Bakhurst to urgent meeting

RTÉ confirmed on Thursday that it had revised its list of top 10 highest-earning presenters for 2024 to include Derek Mooney after it 'reconsidered what constitutes a presenter'.

Media minister Patrick O’Donovan will haul RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst and other executives to a meeting on Tuesday as the national broadcaster finds itself embroiled in yet another payment scandal.

In a scathing interview, the Fine Gael minister said that it was “Groundhog Day” as he warned that RTÉ risks losing public confidence for the second time in less than three years.

RTÉ confirmed on Thursday that it had revised its list of top 10 highest-earning presenters for 2024 to include Derek Mooney after it “reconsidered what constitutes a presenter”.

He had been reclassified as a producer in 2020, so was not accounted for in the list of RTÉ’s highest-paid presenters.

The revision places him eighth on the updated 2024 list with earnings of just over €197,000, and seventh in 2025 with earnings exceeding €202,000.

Last night, RTÉ confirmed it had received permission from Mr Mooney to publish details of his full salary between 2020 and 2023.

He earned €195,079 in 2020, €187,854 in 2021, €188,885 in 2022, and €192,592 in 2023.

These earnings would have earned him a spot in the top 10 highest-paid stars list for each year between 2020 and 2023.

Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, Mr O’Donovan said he could not understand how anybody presenting a show could not be classified as a presenter.

He said he will call Mr Bakhurst, RTÉ chairman Terrance O’Rourke, and other officials to a meeting next Tuesday to confirm what happened.

He has also instructed RTÉ to provide the Department of Communications, Sports, and Culture with a breakdown of all workers’ remuneration packages in €5,000 bands by Tuesday. 

This would not just include their salaries but must provide details on all aspects of their packages with the national broadcaster, he said.

Mr O'Donovan warned that “as sure as night follows day”, the latest payment scandal was going to damage people’s trust in the national broadcaster.

“I just want to know what is the bottom line, hook, line, and sinker. What are the public on the hook for here?” Mr O’Donovan said.

“I also don't want to know monies without total packages. I think we've moved on way too far from that.”

Extra pay for Kielty

Meanwhile, it was revealed last night that Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty was paid an extra €23,000 across 2024 and 2025 as he presented additional programmes beyond his standard contract.

Mr Kielty, who recently came to the end of a contract to host the Late Late Show, had said his pay was €250,000.

Figures released by RTÉ on Thursday showed he was paid €266,323 in 2025 and €257,657 in 2024.

Asked to explain the discrepancy, the national broadcaster said: “RTÉ required Mr Kielty to present some additional programmes beyond his standard contract in these years, and he was paid the agreed fees for this work as included in the published figures".

Mr O’Donovan said he was canvassing on Friday in Galway ahead of the by-election, and the latest RTÉ scandal was coming up on the doors.

He continued: “We're trying to rebuild confidence. I'm trying to get people to buy the television license. I'm trying to get people to have faith in the public service broadcaster.

“We're trying to get people to go back into their post office and pay their license fee. And, you know, invariably, people are going to ask for what?

“Here we are yet again, Groundhog Day, explaining something that, to be quite honest about, I thought after giving the company €750m, that we had moved on from that, and that we had moved to a position where there was full disclosure.”

Mr O’Donovan said he did not want Mr Mooney to be scapegoated, and that his department now wants to look at “everything” from 2020 and that not revisiting the top 10 and total pay packages over the last five years was “not an option”.

At the Fianna Fáíl ard fheis last night, Taoiseach Micheál Martin said that RTÉ needed to ensure it can maintain public confidence.

“It's important to retain confidence in the public and difficult to comprehend what's transpired, but nonetheless, I think the right decision was taken to correct that,” he said.

• Louise Burne is Political Correspondent.