RTÉ can’t afford to pay D’Arcy a €500,000 salary

RTÉ has plenty of broadcasting talent whose pay is not so exorbitant as to make headline news. But RTÉ intends to recruit broadcaster Ray D’Arcy for €500,000 a year.

RTÉ’s commercial revenue has declined from €240m to €145m over the past five years. Annual television licence revenue was reduced by €19m in that period. The Department of Communications Energy and Natural Resources reported that the television licence evasion levels, at 17% of households and businesses, are high by European standards. The latest annual report of An Post indicates no progress since 2008 in curtailing television-licence evasion.

RTE returned a modest surplus of €700,000 last year, following an era of substantial losses. How can RTÉ afford to pay one person so much when their capacity to make a decent profit and grow revenue is so uncertain?