RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Trampas

Does she think by leaving nk she can escape her salary getting published? I wouldn’t put it pass her

inajock

Seems she's a self employed contractor. Gas

realdanbreen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802931#Comment_120802931

Then all he had to do was answer " none of your business, next question " . It seems to bug you that the TD'S were "giving out" to these RTE people!

Mini poll results

bucketybuck

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802967#Comment_120802967

So many fallacies.

Lottie Whoever getting a few handouts says nothing about actual value, especially not in the clearly incestuous world of RTE and NKM.

RTE not managing its costs is rather the issue, yes, glad you realise that. Lets not pretend its focus on its top "stars" is not very much representative of the management problem.

"RTE has to buy content or it is Dermot Bannon everyday" is just hogwash.

And the biggest fallacy of all is the line you have drawn from saying if RTE don't keep their top "stars" then they will have no revenue to stay afloat. This might shock you, but there is a world where RTE is managed differently, does not give brown envelopes to NKM, does not make revenue generation its major priority, but still makes money and still produces quality television programmes that serve the public interest.

Crazy talk I know.

HerrKuehn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802967#Comment_120802967

I think a lot of people think it should be trimmed down significantly, focus on the public service part. So there would be no need to buy in content from abroad. Maybe only one channel. At the moment there is a kind of circular reasoning, we need commercial because we need to pay RT high wages, if we don't have RT we won't attract as much advertising revenue etc. Now is the time to think about what RTE should be for, what it's purpose is. I don't think we need a commercial channel that shows dramas and things like that. It should be producing documentaries about Irish interest stuff that would not be commercially viable.

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803011#Comment_120803011

He was compelled to answer by the Chair of the PAC who said the question should and could be answered.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802698#Comment_120802698

Will they audit the auditors? Who currently audits RTE books??

Honorable

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802931#Comment_120802931

I heard some charity on newstalk who take left over food and distribute to other food bank. CEO on 75k

Honorable

I am not defending RT but what he made was probably buttons in relation to the money advertisers made. I wouldn't buy a car because Lottie advertised it. Have people no minds of their own?

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803077#Comment_120803077

How many advertising staff are on more than RT was on?

TinyMuffin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803063#Comment_120803063

Don’t google fr peter mcverry audited accounts. Wages and salaries €30500000

NIMAN

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803094#Comment_120803094

Another potential scandal waiting to be investigated there I'd say.

The amount of wages dished out in that 'housing charity's obscene and funnily enough never raised in the media. I wonder why.

Honorable

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803086#Comment_120803086

I meant the huge money the agencies make

evolvingtipperary101

Lottie and Doireann are low hanging fruit. Now, maybe, they’ve using the barter account for extra wages but I doubt it. Lottie has parted ways with NK…

Don’t lose sight of the big money crime here. RT, NK, and the RTE board and the culture that provided a platform for a gross misuse of taxpayer money.

I wonder what’s was going on in Pat Kenny’s and Gerry Ryan’s time and when all those European song contests were on in Ireland…

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803107#Comment_120803107

Agencies like NK management?

By any standard of employees in agencies or corporations in Ireland, RT was extremely well remunerated.

realdanbreen

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803040#Comment_120803040

They might hire EY, the crowd who were called Ernst & Young when they audited and approved Anglo Irish banks accounts which had been doctored "Mr Bean" style a few years back.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803122#Comment_120803122

These big audit companies are a cosy cartel. They are always auditing each other and protect each other as much as possible.

jimjangles

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802967#Comment_120802967

Dermot Bannon is already on every flipping day and I turn him off as soon as I see him. RTE is completely dreadful especially during the summer, nothing but reruns and rubbish. There's nothing to watch on any channel during the afternoon in fact. Then evening time is filled with the same cookery programmes and doing up houses rerun programmes. I think it's the same all year round anyway. Maybe some new eps of the same crap I didn't want to watch that had been on twice or 3 times already. Then Virgin Media has Love Island on nearly 24/7. TV has never been worse. As for talent, RTE doesn't have any.

It'll probably get even worse now if that's possible and they'll still expect people to pay a licence and try increase it.

Penn

I'm not sure I fully agree with some of the figures and ideas regarding salary caps, as you do need to have an attractive wage for certain roles and positions to get the best people, and then there should also be wage increases/incentives for time served to try and keep those people. I think rolling straight in with salary caps is just trying to plaster over the cracks; a quick fix which looks good but won't fix the actual problem.

Though a review of some of the highest paid presenters salaries should definitely be undertaken to make sure they're within a reasonable margin of market value and how much revenue their shows make from advertisers/sponsors etc. It's become clear that a lot of these presenters actually have very limited options in getting such a wage elsewhere, and so they don't need these crazy deals to try and keep them.

BattleCorp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803023#Comment_120803023

Which parts of my post are fallacies? Point out which statements from my post are fallacies. I've broken it up to make it easy for you.

Why are Toyota getting the likes of Lottie Ryan to be brand ambassadors for them eh? The sponsors obviously think there is some appeal there. I don't see the appeal in her myself but hey, I'm not paying for the advert.

Toyota wouldn't get Lottie if they didn't think they could get a return on whatever they were paying her for the advertising. Do you think this is a fallacy? They want someone with a public profile to promote their brand.

And secondly, I'm not paying for the advert. So that isn't a fallacy either.

Why should we care about revenue generation? Because the licence fee doesn't cover the cost of running RTE by a long shot.

RTE aren't able to cover their costs solely through the licence fee. Fact. RTE had a deficit of €13m in 2018. That's with advertising included so it would be way more if there was no advertising revenue generated. Again, not a fallacy.

And the good salaries that Tubs et al. are on is only a small part of the defecit. There's camramen, researchers, electricians, engineers etc. that draw a wage from RTE too.

You think cameramen etc. don't have to be paid? Is that a fallacy? The overpayment to Tubs and the other presenters only makes up a part of the losses. Again, fact.

And RTE has to buy content from abroad too or else we'd be looking at Dermot Bannon programmes every single day. RTE needs outside revenue to stay afloat, and it's not doing a good job of that at the moment.

RTE have to buy sporting rights for certain sports. Looking at today's schedule for RTE 1, they have to buy Holby City, Casualty, The Kelly Clarkson Show, Dr. Phil, Doctors, Home and Away, Shortland Street, Eastenders, Shakespear & Hathaway, The Heiress and the Heist, Death in Paradise, Lie with Me, etc. That's for one channel for one day. They also have to buy sporting rights, movie rights etc. Is that a fallacy too?

I will agree that RTE are not managing their costs effectively. It needs to cut its cloth according to its measure.

Again, my example above shows how much content RTE actually has to buy and that's only RTE1 today. You could argue that they don't need to buy that content but then what would they show? It's actually possible that it's cheaper to buy the content than to make it.

And regarding my Dermot Bannon comment, I was being a bit facetious to make a point. RTE are so short of people to go onto the Late Late Show, Dermot Bannon has been on it 11 times up to 2020 and he's been on it several times since. Anyway, my point remains, if RTE don't buy content from abroad, where do they get the programmes to fill all the air time? Ok, so my Dermot Bannon comment is a fallacy, but you get my point.

And the biggest fallacy of all is the line you have drawn from saying if RTE don't keep their top "stars" then they will have no revenue to stay afloat. This might shock you, but there is a world where RTE is managed differently, does not give brown envelopes to NKM, does not make revenue generation its major priority, but still makes money and still produces quality television programmes that serve the public interest.

Where did I say that if RTE don't keep their top 'stars' then they will have no revenue to stay afloat? I didn't say that at all. Please show me my quote where I said that?

Leg End Reject

The Oireachtas Committee should ask to see some of the offers these top presenters have received from competitors. That shouldn't be a problem as it was always the rationale behind the ludicrous salaries some of them are on.

Honorable

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803120#Comment_120803120

I meant corporate agencies as a whole not any one person. RT probably thought if they want me to make them a fortune I want a fortune.

pjordan

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802937#Comment_120802937

It seems to me that our culture of "celebrity" media personages is very much an inheritance from UK media of the late 90's and early naughties where Big Brother types and the likes of poor tragic Jade Goody became famous just for being famous, or appearing on a high profile tv program where a particular character trait stood out (For poor Jade it was unfortunately, ignorance!). They had no other real verifiable talents other than they were "famous" and were ok media performers or good for tabloid column inches.

This has been a considerable part of NKM agency management strategy. Not only do they represent their "talent" in negotiations for renumeration, they have also actively and agressively promoted their "talent" to keep them in the public eye and keep them relevant (and keep their currency or percieved value up for future negotiations on renumeration). So over the past decade we've had endless soft focus, lifestyle profiles of these "stars" peppered all over the media and a mutual appreciation society whereby the same "stars" were constantly paraded around each others chatshows, or utilised for programs like Dancing with the Stars (Or as Ivan Yeats used call it "Dancing with the Staff"). Ultimately it becomes a self perputating cycle and an upwards spiral of revenue for DKM for a relatively minor investment of a PR team constantly feeding stories to the media who lap it all up as page fillers, or as an always available and convenient "guest" for a chat show in the absence of being able to attract many international start of note, beyond those promoting a book or movie.

Broadcasters or established media personalities with a proven track record of performance or generating public interest (Somehow I couldn't envisage the likes of Rodney Rice or Ciaran Macmahuana or Donnacha O'Dulaig going in for that agency lark!) or attracting (or retaining) listenership or viewership, have been to a fair degree, sidelined by these new manufactured "celebrities" who can command top dollar on the basis of their celebrity alone (and sure if they have a secondary talent like a past sporting career or an architectural qualification then that can be used to milk more publicity and money and endorsements also).

I really dunno if we will ever see a return to broadcasters who attain their position and reputation on merit alone. I fear this monster that has been unleashed over the past decade or so, is firmly out of the box and can never really be put back in again. The only possible saving grace is the generation of a level playing field in the wake of this controversy, whereby the market decides based on hard nosed commercial realities, and those that can't justify their cost based on commercial earning and generation ability will be cast by the way side ruthlessly.

lawrencesummers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803105#Comment_120803105

Its not raised because its not a problem. Read their accounts for 2022 page 31

Peter mcverry himself takes no salary, expenses or allowances. Not has he ever.

The have a payroll of 30,536,511 with 766 staff so an average of under 40k. Hardly a problem?

Their senior management renumeration is on page 32 and is transparent and not any way excessive.

Northernlily

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803119#Comment_120803119

Lottie before PAC would be something else🤣

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803188#Comment_120803188

He was already on a fortune. Nothing wrong with looking for payment for doing extra Renault work - the problem is that he wanted RTE to cover the bill regardless of whether there was Renault work OR even if Renault were paying for it. The barter account shenanigans seem to have been done for RTE to pay Tubridy more and pretending it was coming from elsewhere. But RTE were paying out monies to fund the Renault work also... the agreement was cost neutral for Renault.

The reality is there was no new money from Renault.

It cost RTÉ more than €47,000 to cover the expense involved in staging three events hosted by Ryan Tubridy for Renault in 2022, according to a statement from the public service broadcaster. The events took place in Cork, Dublin and Louth between March and May 2022. The cost of staging the events was €30,586. As RTÉ paid the costs through a barter account, the total cost to RTÉ came to €47,477... RTÉ’s income from Renault’s sponsorship of the Late Late Show was reduced by the value of €75,000.

https://www.rte.ie/news/primetime/2023/0628/1391642-rte-covered-cost-of-staging-tubridy-hosted-renault-events/

Honorable

There was a homeless man on a virgin programme. He was a rapper who busked on street. He said I don't beg i entertain.

He had far more charisma than RT or any rte 'talent' lol. RT is a talentless twat that got everything by nepotism

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120802627#Comment_120802627

RTE etc won’t negotiate with him, so one end of his business is dead in the water. He’s a businessman and will diversify.

Honorable

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120803189#Comment_120803189

It's the fault of people who follow that dumbed down trash like big brother etc

There is a market for that rubbish