Marian Finucane

dedon

Marian Finucane earned €470,013 in 2007 - jumping to €570,000 in 2008.

How can she justify earning that amount of money for 2 three hour shows a week??

This is an absolute disgrace that we have to pay for. Only in Ireland and only in RTE.

humberklog

But sooo looking forward to the show in the morning.

JonathanAnon

My god, she read out the headline from one of the newspapers which was "Finucane gets €570,000 for four hours a week" and then just passed on to the next paper.

These people are all CONTRACTORS. Which means that unlike other civil servants, we can get rid of them. She is an ok presenter, but her contract should not be renewed and it should be given to (the excellent) Rachael English.

What an appalling waste of money.

humberklog

Hmmm....she wasn't touching that today anyway.

On Sunday she starts with a panel pouring over the papers...she'll have to address the matter then...wouldn't she:rolleyes:.


I don't really get the idea of switching English for M.F.

mike65

Well I listened to see what we were getting for the money - two hours of thin, windy, condesending nothingness.

irish_bob

finnucanes idea of hard nosed interviewing

adopts shrill marian voice = well i didnt know that friday comes after thursday

she is and has always been unbearable , shes been dining out on the back of having percieved to have been at the forefront of womens lib since the 70,s and truth be told shes about as womens lib as mary mceleese

kevin myers summed her up well quite recently , like listening to a chain smoking fish wife squawking acrosss her garden fence with her neighbour

DO'Carlo/Wex

Big Fish, Small Pond.
I haven't listened to her in a while but I do think she's good. That's my opinion. But nobody's THAT bloody good.
The salaries that were negotiated even IF it were as Cathal Go Wan said in a different climate are still out of kilter with what the likes of Marian are worth.
Nobody is worth E950K like Kenny or what Ryan, Turgidby or Finucane or Mooney or Dunphy are getting paid. What makes it worse is that its' OUR' taxpayers & licence-fee payers' money that's funding them.
Let their' contracts end & re-negotiate way downwards. If they won't sign, let them leave. They won't get half what they get across the water & that's if they're wanted at all.
Nobody in public service (or indeed, perhaps private too?) should be allowed earn E100K or more a year. If that's a Commie Attitude, then fair enough. Nobody deserves that much.

mickoneill30

dedon wrote: »

Marian Finucane earned €470,013 in 2007 - jumping to €570,000 in 2008.

How can she justify earning that amount of money for 2 three hour shows a week??

This is an absolute disgrace that we have to pay for. Only in Ireland and only in RTE.

I'm no particular fan of Marian Finucane but does she need to justify it to us? Presumably she negotiated her pay with RTE. It's the bosses in RTE we should be annoyed with and who need to justify it.

Like any other employee I'm sure she goes in and tries to get the best pay possible from her employer. Unlike any other employee she seems to have bosses that seem to be happy to say yes.

On the other hand if her show is creating a profit then why shouldn't she be getting that money? I'm kind of hoping the bosses in RTE look at all the numbers when deciding the salaries and aren't just rubber stamping pay rises. Not holding my breath there though.

DO'Carlo/Wex wrote: »

What makes it worse is that its' OUR' taxpayers & licence-fee payers' money that's funding them.

+ whatever money they make from selling advertising during the shows. Does RTE release how much they make from that?

JonathanAnon

humberklog wrote: »

I don't really get the idea of switching English for M.F.

Not sure what you mean. Rachael English replaced Finucane while she was on her usual RTE extended holiday, and she did a great job. She's got a good radio voice, asks all the right questions and could be employed for a lot less money.

JonathanAnon

mickoneill30 wrote: »

I'm no particular fan of Marian Finucane but does she need to justify it to us? Presumably she negotiated her pay with RTE. It's the bosses in RTE we should be annoyed with and who need to justify it.

I know what you're saying, but how can you take her squawking about decreases in social welfare or higher paid civil servants, or to have ANY credibility talking about any issue concerning wages, when she is paid more than even Cowan and Obama for four hours on air time.

If you work that out, it's about €2500 an hour, and that doesnt take into account her time off or extended holidays. Absolutely ridiculous, her contract should NOT be renewed.

And these RTE stars sometimes try to justify their wages on the basis that a) a private company would pay them the same and b) they bring in advertising revenue. If this is so then I have two points:
1) All advertising revenue went down with the recession, they should have all of their remunerations reduced in line with this.
2) Nobody in the private sector would pay them this amount of money. THEY are not bringing in the advertising money. It's their prime time slot on the national broadcaster that brings in the revenue. Any average broadcaster worth their salt could do the job and bring in the same advertising.

humberklog

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Not sure what you mean. Rachael English replaced Finucane while she was on her usual RTE extended holiday, and she did a great job. She's got a good radio voice, asks all the right questions and could be employed for a lot less money.

Yeah I know that bit but I don't think a straight swap works so well in this instance (if ever). While R.E did do a good job there was a different feel to the show, it wasn't the same. R.E is excellent and I've been a long time fan of hers but I think her skill sets are far more suited to the style of programme she's on at the moment or indeed the late show she does in the evening. R.E is being utilised by RTE correctly at the moment, that's not broken and won't break RTE.

If M.F was dropped then they should simply replace the programme as opposed to the presenter.

I like M.F's show because of the style and direction she has brought to it. Putting R.E in their to take up those reigns would be like putting a perfectly decent train onto a perfectly good but slightly different gauge track.

GSF

JonathanAnon wrote: »

My god, she read out the headline from one of the newspapers which was "Finucane gets €570,000 for four hours a week" and then just passed on to the next paper.

She pretty much spat it out and didnt even mention who the "Finucane" in question was or what the story was about.

FlutterinBantam

I read somewhere where she claimed to have been approached by other media outlets with a view to jioning them.

No way anybody in their right mind would pay that much for four hours air time a week plus the holiday arrangements she has.

RTE, in my opinion have lost their credibility to be objective when interrogating TDs and the like, on the salary/expenses issues .

Their salaries and expenses are far more gross and out of kilter.

And don't tell me that the lesser lights are not on something which has a link to what those at the top are getting.

Whole place is a festering dump of over the top aggrandisment and nobody seems to be able to touch them.

JonathanAnon

humberklog wrote: »

If M.F was dropped then they should simply replace the programme as opposed to the presenter. I like M.F's show because of the style and direction she has brought to it. Putting R.E in their to take up those reigns would be like putting a perfectly decent train onto a perfectly good but slightly different gauge track.

Wow, I really dont notice the difference. I would consider the show more guest centric, not really taking any considerable change in direction from the person at the reigns. But I would have to agree to some extent with Kevin Myers, Finucane comes across as the "mad one" in the office that could come out with anything, whether it's tactful/relevant/appropriate or not. Whereas, I would consider Rachael as having a more considered, tactical approach to her questioning.

Oh, and Rachael's decision to leave DriveTime was more motivated by her personal issues.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachael_English

In October 2008, she was diagnosed with an overactive thyroid (but escaped a potentially more serious diagnosis relating to the lumps found in both of her breasts shortly after the thyroid trouble began). She is on medication for the thyroid problem, possibly for the rest of her life, and has stated that at some point she plans to treat the lump she still has in her throat.

Just looking on wiki.. here's objectivity for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Finucane

Marian Finucane earned €380,507 in 2003 and €439,265 in 2004 at RTE. Her salary cannot be justified by the advertising her programmes attract.

Fuzzy Clam

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Just looking on wiki.. here's objectivity for you:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marian_Finucane

Marian Heldabottom Finucane

JonathanAnon

Missed the first 15 minutes this morning. Did she say anything about the wages?

mike65

Nope. Avoided that. Dispite a huge spread in the papers.

JonathanAnon

mike65 wrote: »

Nope. Avoided that. Dispite a huge spread in the papers.

tks Mike.
didn think they would. it's really a bit hard to take her seriously now, giving out about TDs expenses when she is on a multiple of their (generous) wages. I'm not a FF-er, but I would say that John O'donoghue did a lot more for his week's wages than she did for her's in 2008.

motipp

Marian opened her show this morning by referring to 'elephant in the room' - ie her pay - and asked Eamonn Ryan to comment. Smart move - a la Letterman?

JonathanAnon

motipp wrote: »

Marian opened her show this morning by referring to 'elephant in the room' - ie her pay - and asked Eamonn Ryan to comment. Smart move - a la Letterman?

Oh right, what did he say..

Zardoz

JonathanAnon wrote: »

If you work that out, it's about €2500 an hour, and that doesnt take into account her time off or extended holidays. Absolutely ridiculous, her contract should NOT be renewed.

Her radio show is also on at off peak times.
On Sunday morning I'd imagine she would get a few listeners but nobody listens to radio on a Saturday morning .
With the money spent on her wages it would nearly pay for 3pm Sat EPL matches on RTE .
570k a year for a part time hobby ,scandalous.

motipp

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Oh right, what did he say..

Basically Ryan said 'a plague on all our houses' ie the pols, broadcasters etc were/are all on the gravy train - and we are in a different time now, need for a new culture etc. Marian replied 'Right' in that smokey voice and moved on.

JonathanAnon

Zardoz wrote: »

570k a year for a part time hobby ,scandalous.

At least the state gets about half of it back with the VAT and duty on fags. Seriously though, the President Of The United States only gets about 330k (from wiki in euros), how can she be payed more than this for four hours of broadcasting. Who signed up to this thinking it was a good deal? Are the contracts negotiated annually?

I'll download the podcast and have a listen to it later.

juuge

Marian has aged like Gerry Ryan, Gaybo, Gogan etc none of of them seem to know the meaning of 'best-before' dates. These people don't get better with age - they get progressively worse. It is only the likes of RTE that is funded by us the taxpayer that would allow these 'over-the-hill' presenters continue. RTE has a civil service mentality and really needs to be cleaned out. Shag them out - I say, and I'm quite sure the commercial stations if they might want them would not pay those grotesque salaries. Call their bluff!

LordSutch

That shrill, gravelly, smoky, multi-cotave voice of hers just doesnt merit €455.000.

Her new TV debate show/thingy is also a disaster!

tbh

JonathanAnon wrote: »

At least the state gets about half of it back with the VAT and duty on fags. Seriously though, the President Of The United States only gets about 330k (from wiki in euros), how can she be payed more than this for four hours of broadcasting. Who signed up to this thinking it was a good deal? .

Marion. And who can blame her?

I personally rate her. I'd prefer to see her used a lot more, possibly 12-1 daily in a new show replacing Ronan Collins. If RTE won't give her the hours, what can she do? I know if I got offered a deal like that, I'd grab it.

deadhead13

The point is, she shouldn't have been offered that deal and I doubt she was a passive observer when it was being negotiated.

JonathanAnon

tbh wrote: »

Marion. And who can blame her?

Well, my point was specifically who was negotiating on behalf of the state to get a good deal for the taxpayer. This is a terrible deal for the tax/license payer.

Obviously if you were offered that deal you would take it. But that's the problem with the Public Service, unions fight for the best deal for their employees and NOT what they actually deserve.

deadhead13

JonathanAnon wrote: »

Well, my point was specifically who was negotiating on behalf of the state to get a good deal for the taxpayer. This is a terrible deal for the tax/license payer.

Obviously if you were offered that deal you would take it. But that's the problem with the Public Service, unions fight for the best deal for their employees and NOT what they actually deserve.

I agree. RTE is not an entirely commerical enterprise, 40% of its budget comes from public money - so different rules apply. If the License fee was abolished over night, even after the organisation dropped the less profitable public broadcasting aspects of its output, RTE could not afford to pay it Marian & co the amount it currently does. Ultimately the management are to blame but the "stars" and their pushy agents were hardly innocent bystanders.

Real FM

I'm not defending Marian Finucane because I do think her wages are ridiculous but some people are stating things that are fairly inaccurate:

DO'Carlo/Wex wrote: »

Big Fish, Small Pond.
What makes it worse is that its' OUR' taxpayers & licence-fee payers' money that's funding them.

Not entirely true. As stated earlier some of this is made up with advertising revenue but yes some of it is made up of tax payers money.

JonathanAnon wrote: »

2) Nobody in the private sector would pay them this amount of money.

Wrong. Cathal Goan said in the weekend papers that she had an offer from Newstalk very similar to this. If this was untrue Newstalk would have issued a response.

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

No way anybody in their right mind would pay that much for four hours air time a week plus the holiday arrangements she has.

Wrong. She also does a TV programme and I'm sure she doesn't just stroll into the studio. There's obviously hours either side where she's prepping.

Zardoz wrote: »

Her radio show is also on at off peak times.
On Sunday morning I'd imagine she would get a few listeners but nobody listens to radio on a Saturday morning.

Wrong. The last JNLRs say she had 359,000 listeners on a Saturday morning and 310,000 on a Sunday morning. You're right in the sense that these are off peak times which actually means she brings listeners to Radio 1 that would otherwise not be listening.

As I said, I don't agree with her wages but some people just need to get their facts right.

JonathanAnon

Real FM wrote: »

Wrong. Cathal Goan said in the weekend papers that she had an offer from Newstalk very similar to this. If this was untrue Newstalk would have issued a response.

Have you citation for this? How exactly did Cathal Goan become aware of the contract that was offered to her by Newstalk?

Realistically, I couldnt imagine any presenter turning down a "similar" offer from a private company and turning their back on the national broadcaster. In the current economic environment, Newstalk/TodayFM/FM104 etc could be gone in the morning. RTE is definitely gonna be there next year. I think you also need to factor this in to so called similar offers.

I agree with you on the point that they put in hours of work behind the scenes to bring the stuff to air, but it's still a pathetic return for the money being paid.

Real FM

It was in Saturday's Mail. I was slightly wrong - she actually said that she got an offer from Newstalk which is then followed by Goan saying because of theses offers they have to match them.

Big Tone

dedon wrote: »

Marian Finucane earned €470,013 in 2007 - jumping to €570,000 in 2008.

How can she justify earning that amount of money for 2 three hour shows a week??

This is an absolute disgrace that we have to pay for. Only in Ireland and only in RTE.

Its actually 2 two hour shows and most of it just waffle, I think Newstalk do a better job on saturday and sunday mornings but I bet the presenters there can only look on in envy at what their preening counterparts in RTE are getting.

RTE pay their "stars" huge sums (as is plainly evidenced in the corresspondingly annual expanding neck and waistline of G Ryan) so they wont move or be poached by some other broadcaster and paying them massive money will certainly ensure that, but they're is no justification whatsoever to paying them these salaries in these straitened times.

DublinWriter

Real FM wrote: »

she actually said that she got an offer from Newstalk which is then followed by Goan saying because of theses offers they have to match them.

Unlike the independents, RTE senior management seem to have no business sense at all.

Unlike the independents, RTE has major financial clout when it comes to paying for front of mic/camera talent.

Once you're in the door with RTE, you're home and dry. Newstalk have a ferocious reputation when it comes to churning talent with zero-notice.

You get a sense of the corporate mindset and strategy When you consider that RTE pay Gay Byrne well in excess of 100K a year *not* to work for any other broadcaster.

Could you imagine Ryanair paying their retired pilots not to work for a rival airline?

Finucane is a very able broadcaster, but it's utter lunacy to pay someone €570K for two two-hour radio shows a week to a catchment area the size of Birmingham.

Fair play to her I say, Like the rest of RTE's talent, she's a contractor operating under her own limited company. She's running a business.

Maybe instead of getting angry at Marian Finucane, people should redirect their ire against the management of RTE and their seeming inability to come out of pay negotiations looking like spineless wobbly jellyfish.

I personally didn't care much for Rachel English's stint, I thought Marian Finucane was, well, does anyone know the feminine form of 'avuncular'?

motipp

juuge wrote: »

Marian has aged like Gerry Ryan, Gaybo, Gogan etc none of of them seem to know the meaning of 'best-before' dates. These people don't get better with age - they get progressively worse. It is only the likes of RTE that is funded by us the taxpayer that would allow these 'over-the-hill' presenters continue. RTE has a civil service mentality and really needs to be cleaned out. Shag them out - I say, and I'm quite sure the commercial stations if they might want them would not pay those grotesque salaries. Call their bluff!

If there is one thing that gets me going more than bad radio its projudice - in this case against a whole swathe of the population ie older people. Not well juuged I'd say.

Back to the relevant issues - I am in agreement with posts pointing out that it's RTE that needs chastising here, not individual presenters. We live in a market economy - which of us does not try to maximise our incomes?

Meeja Ireland

DublinWriter wrote: »

I personally didn't care much for Rachel English's stint, I thought Marian Finucane was, well, does anyone know the feminine form of 'avuncular'?

Hmm, good question. Avauntular? Materteral? Finucular?

juuge

motipp wrote: »

If there is one thing that gets me going more than bad radio its projudice - in this case against a whole swathe of the population ie older people. QUOTE] My point is, why should presenters in RTE decided themselves when it's time to go?
Everybody has a 'sell-by' date why should they be any different? Can they not just retire gracefully and make way for new up-and-coming talent and give someone else a chance. They've made their money - now move on.
Do we wait 'till they drop dead at the microphone before they call it a day? No other company I know, lets the employee decide when it's time to go. As regards maximising income, if say a plumber wants to charge me over the odds in order to maximise his income is that OK? certainly not - I just don't pay him - end of story. So RTE pay these guys enormous sums of (our) money and we just roll over and accept it? I don't think so.

FlutterinBantam

Indeed, the management out there should be turned over for allowing this blatant abuse of scarce resources to continue.

Who in their right mind would pay someone with a catchment of 2-3 million 570k for two two hour prog a week and and and numerous breaks over the year including a 12 week summer break!!!!


beggars frikken belief.

motipp

juuge wrote: »

motipp wrote: »

If there is one thing that gets me going more than bad radio its projudice - in this case against a whole swathe of the population ie older people. QUOTE]

My point is, why should presenters in RTE decided themselves when it's time to go?
Everybody has a 'sell-by' date why should they be any different? Can they not just retire gracefully and make way for new up-and-coming talent and give someone else a chance. They've made their money - now move on.
Do we wait 'till they drop dead at the microphone before they call it a day? No other company I know, lets the employee decide when it's time to go. As regards maximising income, if say a plumber wants to charge me over the odds in order to maximise his income is that OK? certainly not - I just don't pay him - end of story. So RTE pay these guys enormous sums of (our) money and we just roll over and accept it? I don't think so.

You suggest that these presenters 'choose' when to go - I have not heard this suggested. Even allowing for RTE management ineptitude it would eb incredible if presenters decided their own retirement dates..

Again, on your plumber example, you miss the point that setting of rewards is a negotiation - what contractor in the construction industry for example would allow a plumber to decide their nremuneration unilaterally...pure fantasy!!

Wertz

I've said it before on here and I'll say it again; Finnucane's show is nothing but a glorified coffee morning for herself, some of her pals that live locally and whatever other voices can be convinced to leave their sunday morning lie-in for a quick look through the papers.

That she manages to attract the best part of 18 times the average industrial wage for what can only, at best, work out at a 16 hour work week (I'm being generous here) says so much more about the financial utopia that those with control of the purse strings in RTÉ seem to live in, than it does about the woman herself.
I can't blame her for managing to secure herself such a lucrative deal...I would strongly question the reasoning behind such a large salary for such little work on behalf of those who rewarded the contract (I don't buy this"if we don't pay they'll leave nonsense)...

Her little dig about the GHB hospitalisations this morning and trying to relate it to ecstasy laws in the UK and the sacking of a government adviser really hit a nerve with me (and what has me posting on this thread)....how dare she or anyone else go off half cocked with delusions of taking the moral highground and lumping one illegal substance in with another, when they quite clearly haven't grasped basic concepts of the substances involved or indeed what Nutt was actually sacked for (his recent comments on cannabis classification)....that so many of her listenership will gobble this nonsense up and use it to form or bolster their own views on illegal drug use galls me in the extreme.
For 570K, the least she could do is be sure of her facts before she goes off on one...

DublinWriter

Wertz wrote: »

Her little dig about the GHB hospitalisations this morning and trying to relate it to ecstasy laws in the UK and the sacking of a government adviser really hit a nerve with me

Drugs are bad.....riiiiiieeeeghhhtt...agus anois an nuacht agus ta me ag dul go dti ar smoke break

Unfortunately is it us who pay the presenters' inflated wages through a) the licence fee and b) the ad-rates passed onto us as consumers by companies who advertise with RTE.

The money ultimately comes from us, folks, and I for one don't think I'm alone when I say that we ain't getting value for money.

JonathanAnon

Wertz wrote: »

I've said it before on here and I'll say it again; Finnucane's show is nothing but a glorified coffee morning for herself, some of her pals that live locally and whatever other voices can be convinced to leave their sunday morning lie-in for a quick look through the papers.

I think we all agree that she is ridiculously overpaid and this is the fault of RTE. But I do agree that it begins to affect a presenter's credibility when talking about issues like minimum wage, dole, money being cut back from health/social and family affairs etc etc departments, expenses, high pay and bonuses of OTHER civil servants ..... Same with Joe Duffy, Gerry Ryan, Pat kenny etc etc. Joe Duffy, on something like 10 times avg industrial wage. He may have been a social worker but he is definitely not a social -IST.

In Marian's defence, one of things I like about her is that she REALLY does ask the hard questions. Like her interview with (pompous, self promoting a-hole) Pat Hickey.. She did not shy away from any of the hard questions, and picked up Hickey on every unfounded allegation that he made. Actually worth a listen, not sure how this did not get more media attention.

She did the same with Michael Woods and many others, when I know that Tubridy would have shyed away from the serious questions like the coward that he is. Maybe they should leave her on the same wage and give her the LLS. She's a bit long in the tooth, but at this stage the LLS is more like a laid back Sunday night chat show than the fast paced, humourous, entertaining show like it was meant to be when Tubridy was given it. Not because I like Marian, just because she is a far superior interviewer to Tubridy.

Wertz

I always liked her on Liveline I have to say....and you might have a point about the LLS too (although as much as I don't rate Tubridy in general, he's still better than Kenny in the role)...the other issues I'll take your word on, as invariably she'll end up saying something that makes me switch stations or the continued falsetto and octave jumping will become too much and I'll pop over to Sam Smyth instead.

JonathanAnon

Wertz wrote: »

I always liked her on Liveline I have to say....and you might have a point about the LLS too (although as much as I don't rate Tubridy in general, he's still better than Kenny in the role)...the other issues I'll take your word on, as invariably she'll end up saying something that makes me switch stations or the continued falsetto and octave jumping will become too much and I'll pop over to Sam Smyth instead.

oh dont get me wrong, I'm not a big fan of hers, and that putting THE emphasis ON the wrong words with her falsetto gets on my nerve at times... as well as the way that tut sound she makes with her tongue at the end of every sentence.. I mean do these people not listen back to themselves?????? Very basic annoying idiosyncrasies that she could get rid of easily, if she wasnt too arrogant to think she is "beyond improvement". Someone in RTE should have said this to her years ago but didnt have the b*lls.

My primary reason for suggesting her as possible LLS replacement is because she is a VERY brave interviewer. Tubridy is NOT, possibly because of his FF connections, possibly and more probably because he is gutless.

irish_bob

the woman resembles an argumentitive fishwife cacking across the garden fence at her neighbour about whatever the story of the day is

ghastly woman

Wertz

Kevin? Is that you?