RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Frank Grimes

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102366#Comment_121102366

If he still had a show he might be able to put out thinly veiled requests for freebie top of the range professional photography equipment, his current situation rules that out so he probably won't bother.

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101461#Comment_121101461

RTE has been supposedly broke for years, requesting a bail out every year.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101259#Comment_121101259

When an employer raises an employees salary, they have extra costs too? Inc employers PRSI, which is effectively a form of tax. Now maybe RTE as a public service employer don't pay employers PRSI etc. I'm more familiar with private sector.

As for the employee, you may be more familiar with the ins and outs of BIK for car allowances. I suspect though that it may be more tax efficient to receive increases in payment this way as opposed to a salary increase? If it is, this is legit - but a form of tax avoidance.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102533#Comment_121102533

From a tax point of view car allowance is treated the exact same as salary. A salary of 200k is the exact same as a salary of 180k with 20k car allowance from a tax point of view.

The car allowance is added to your pay slip before any of the tax calculations are done.

For an employee, it's better to have no car allowance and a higher salary.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102423#Comment_121102423

Again, car allowance is an effective way for employers to reduce costs.

72sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121100619#Comment_121100619

Perfectly sums up the IT... 

Non-story about 650k in car allowances to 61 staff last year (some of whom got as little as 1k) - IT editor: "yes, of course that's a front page headline story"

800k paid to 1 person's company where that person is the sitting RTE Board Chair (Moya Doherty) - IT editor: "no, certainly not, I can't see any story there that the public should be allowed to be interested in. Shur hasn't dear Moya been very clear that no conflicts of interest will be tolerated during her tenure".

https://www.irishtimes.com/ireland/2023/09/12/rte-paid-650000-in-car-allowances-last-year-with-no-proof-of-licence-required/

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102553#Comment_121102553

Some of the people receiving a car allowance had no car.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101557#Comment_121101557

Oh stop posting inconvenient truths why don’t ya 😛

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102642#Comment_121102642

Not illegal but considering the “Renault” debacle (sorry Renault ) - you can see just how the management in RTÉ had every trick in the book at their disposal to line certain nests

SELL RTÉ PROPERTY TO THE HIGHEST BIDDER NOW- LET THEM MOVE TO LEITRIM - it’s Chape, good fresh air, plenty of land- BRING BACK GLENROE - in LEITRIM !!!! 🤪

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102642#Comment_121102642

Again, this means absolutely nothing.

A car allowance actually has nothing whatsoever to do with a car, despite the name. The term "car allowance" is just the most commonly used vernacular to describe the arrangement, but they could call it anything they want. They could call it living allowance or personal allowance or whatever.

RTE are not doing anything odd, they are not doing anything unusual. Their arrangement is completely standard and very common across multiple industries. It is entirely above board, both ethically and legally. Tax wise it makes no odds, it's a well documented mechanism by Revenue.

Suggesting that there's some scandal that a car allowance is not being spent on a car is like suggesting there's a scandal that RTE allow their staff to take paid holidays but don't require the staff to present proof of a plane ticket being booked.

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102671#Comment_121102671

It's a salary top up. We're not stupid. We know what it is.

What you're ignoring is that RTE is in massive financial distress asking the tax payer to bail them out.

They cannot afford these ridiculous salary arrangements. They are broke.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102689#Comment_121102689

If you know what it is why are you talking about people not having cars?

They cannot afford these ridiculous salary arrangements. They are broke.

Again, it costs an employer more money to pay people in straight salary than it does to denote a portion of the pay as a car allowance.

What you are literally saying is "RTE are broke, and so they cannot afford these arrangements that save them money!".

There are a lot of problems at RTE, car allowances is far from one of them.

fritzelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102553#Comment_121102553

But were they paying all similar jobs the same money or giving them the car allowance or was it just those in the clique

hotmail.com

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102696#Comment_121102696

One of the main issues is the huge wage bill and this includes the various allowances and generous entitlements given to the RTE staff and contractors.

It will have to be dramatically reduced if they want to receive any state bail out.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102729#Comment_121102729

The article suggested ~60 staff were getting a car allowance, it was not widespread.

Furze99

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102549#Comment_121102549

Accept what you say in good faith. I do know that the ins and outs of car allowances v company cars and so on, is not at all straightforward and varies by individual. There are reasons why these strategies are adopted.

MrMusician18

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121101461#Comment_121101461

I'm not aware of any civil servant getting a car allowance. It would be fairly unique in the public sector.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102549#Comment_121102549

RTE are broke, they can't afford 180k or 20k

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102553#Comment_121102553

RTE are broke, reduce pay, don't give car allowances

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102696#Comment_121102696

RTE are broke, they cannot afford to pay these types of wages and many of the people on these wages have now shown that they are good enough to be getting them. Reduce the wage down. Let them find other better jobs elsewhere, why keep them?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102754#Comment_121102754

If it was about saving money surely all staff should have got a car allowance of some kind. You again seem to think that RTÉ can afford 650k.

No one is saying it is illegal, what we are saying is that 650k is a good amount of money that could be better spent, rather then across 60 people it is an average top up of 10k pretending you RTE saving money on tax (for the employer we hear). How much money across those 60 people did they actually save ~ 200k?

RTÉ have over the years consistently said they are broke that they need extra money, I wonder how many of the NSO staff were getting a car allowance before they moved to the NCH, I wonder if the NCH is still providing them with such a car allowance. I doubt it, it is a clique with in RTÉ getting such allowances.

It was a waste of money.

Damien360

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102966#Comment_121102966

A car allowance is a payment to the employee to provide their own car for the purposes of using it for work. It is instead of a company van or car paid for by the company which the employee would then have to pay BIK. The allowance is fully taxable.

Where I work, depending on your level, pleb (as I am) or manager you are allowed a car from a list to the amount of the allowance on lease, everything above that I have to pay for as extra. If I choose not to accept that leased car then I get that allowance paid to my salary so I can purchase my own car. Only road based staff are allowed company cars/car allowances. Pleb level is 640 a month, so approx 320 a month after tax to buy a car to do 60k Kms a year. Running costs are a fixed mileage rate after that. Believe me there is no profit in this. Anything made is used to fund the inflationary costs associated with buying a another car after a few years.

Long and short is the car allowance story by the Indo is a non story. They are ignoring the elephant in the room with way too high non-competitive salaries across the whole of RTE.

jmcc

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102656#Comment_121102656

Might even get my own doumentary, Nobel Peace Prize and make millions like Al Gore. :)

Regards...jmcc

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121103094#Comment_121103094

Again you are assume that RTÉ cannot get people to work for them, RTÉ have said that they have a low turnover of staff. The question is why does RTÉ have such a low turnover of staff.

You also assume that RTÉ are getting value for money for their staff? I'd say no offence to RTÉ staff .... but ... sorry .... you are where are you are .... and where are you going after 20 years service in RTÉ? Ye have really messed up... all the way from senior management down AFAIC.

And pretending that 4.1 million (plus 650k for car allowances) spend on a nothing burger won't cut it anymore.

The documents show that RTÉ staff earned just short of €4.1 million in allowances in 2022, ranging from €394,190 in 306 long-service payments, to €407,675 in payments to those at producer level. There was also €980,905 paid to those taking on extra responsibilities and €264,221 paid in 65 “call-out” payments. Some €491,362 was made in 46 “personal” payments, a category which includes allowances related to being on air, by way of example.

That's €3k extra per staff member on top of wages.

Why am I working were I am working is all I will ask?

saabsaab

The Civil service pays mileage (travel ) allowance based on car cc only, there is no other car allowance on top.

jack of all

RTE is apparently in crisis, but no real sense of urgency in terms of any real planned action to stem the financial losses and secure its future. The RT story entertained us during the summer but it's September now- holidays are over, back to school and work for everyone, normal business resumes etc. Will there be any decisive action (other than a taxpayer bailout) before the year's end? What has really annoyed me is how dysfunctional RTE is and was for many, many years. The people charged with it's governance were clearly incompetent and seriously overpaid, no heads will roll and no one will be held accountable. It seems we never learn from our mistakes. How depressing...

mickdw

I can see a whole line of TDs embarrass themselves today drilling into this car allowance nonsense.

There is no issue re whether any person uses it to buy a car, has a driving licence or decides to taxi or cycle or walk to work.

It's a taxable allowance and as has been pointed out here, it's a tax benefit for employer only.

The issue is the level of salary so that is what needs to be looked at but regardless of what lower level salaries could be reduced to, the car allowance will generally appear as an employer tax saving scheme.

If 100k is the realistic salary for a mid level presenter and that is what is being paid in a competitive market, you will see the package being offered as 90k plus 10k car allowance.

The car allowance is a red herring and I'm just waiting to see who the idiots are on the media committee today.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121103893#Comment_121103893

The question they should be drilling into is whether the declared salaries published by RTE include this, as it is clearly part of the salary.

The other question is whether 100k is the realistic salary. It seems like RTE are overpaying for everything.

yagan

Ultimately no TD wants to be the one associated with an RTE bailout after what happened with the bank guarantee, so I reckon it will be death by a thousand cuts.

Won't be surprised if Montrose is sold off to pay off RTE pension liabilities.

tayto lover

RTE now refusing to name their top earners. Surely they know that this comes from the Public Purse into their begging bowl.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121104042#Comment_121104042

I don't understand how they can name Top 10 but not Top 100... and at the very least if the can't name individual they should be naming the role i.e. is it presenter, production, executive, admin etc

podgeandrodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121102366#Comment_121102366

Ah here, 80k per year for taking photos? Not wanting to slag off the profession, but this seems like a better gig than Tubs on 170k!

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121104042#Comment_121104042

Committee chair Niamh Smyth specifically said on Morning Ireland this morning that the Oireachtas Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media wasn’t looking for the names of the 100 top earners.