Sponsorship secured for Ray D'Arcy's new radio programme on RTÉ Radio 1 more than covers his annual salary, the new chair-designate of RTÉ has said.
Moya Doherty, the producer of Riverdance and the co-owner of Tyrone Productions, said she inquired about D'Arcy's salary when he made a high-profile defection from Today FM back to RTÉ recently.
D'Arcy will replace Derek Mooney on RTÉ Radio 1's afternoon slot. He is reported to have rejoined the national broadcaster for an annual salary of €500,000, though he claims it was less than what he was on at Today FM.
RTÉ announced that Volkswagen will be sponsoring D’Arcy’s new programme, which starts on Monday and will air between 3pm and 4.30pm.
Speaking at the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Transport and Communications, Ms Doherty, who becomes chair next month, said her principal goal as chair of RTÉ will be to ensure that licence-fee payers get value for money and that RTÉ's long-term funding is secured.
RTÉ accountability
Fine Gael TD Patrick O'Donovan said there was an issue of accountability about the salaries RTÉ pay to their top presenters, as they are only revealed two years later. He said that if other semi-state organisations such as Irish Water had refused to disclose its present salaries, Prime Time would have been all over it.
Ms Doherty told the committee that salaries to top presenters were commercially sensitive and only half of the highest-paid broadcasters in Ireland worked for RTÉ.
The chair-designate said that ensuring value for money for licence-fee payers and a secure funding stream for RTÉ into the future will be her top priority on taking over as chair next month.
She also revealed that an independent report into RTÉ, which will be published presently, will show that RTÉ is delivering good value for licence-fee payers.
Ms Doherty told the committee that since the recession started, RTÉ has reduced its costs by 30 per cent, its staffing levels by 500 and its operating costs by €130 million. Spending in the independent sector had been reduced also, from €77 million to €40 million since 2008.
Ms Doherty said she had experience of working within RTÉ as a producer and in the independent sector and was convinced that money in RTÉ was “very tightly spent and that they are managing it well”.
Chequered history
Ms Doherty acknowledged that RTÉ had a chequered history in relation to current affairs, but said that there was now strong editorial checks and balances in place to ensure that incidents such as the Fr Kevin Reynolds libel action do not happen again.
Ms Doherty defended the sponsorship of RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime programme by Ulster Bank. She said Drivetime was as much a features-style programme as it was a current affairs programme.
