Dunphy says offer to take 10% pay cut 'is right thing to do'

RTÉ RADIO presenter and TV soccer pundit Eamon Dunphy has volunteered to take a 10 per cent cut in pay, and has said that “so-called stars” at the station are “probably overpaid”.

Dunphy said he was taking the cut in his salary, understood to be in the region of €320,000, in solidarity with lower-paid workers who were facing pay cuts and job losses.

“I think it’s the right thing to do. Aren’t I lucky to have a job? And it’s a job that I like, and that I’m well paid for.”

Dunphy, who is on contract with the station, said he made his decision in the knowledge that directly-paid staff of RTÉ, the majority of whom were on far lower salaries, were facing pay freezes. “I am very conscious that people I work with on the programme are facing pay freezes or wage cuts, while so-called stars in RTÉ are probably overpaid.”

He was also conscious that he had used his role as a broadcaster to call for the better-off in society to “take the pain” of the recession.

“There’s never been a crisis like this facing the country, and I believe if you talk the talk, you have to walk the walk. My taking a pay cut is just a gesture, but if it could save one job, or two jobs of the people I work with . . . I believe it’s time to show that solidarity.”

Dunphy’s comments come just days after an Oireachtas committee suggested that RTÉ’s highest paid presenters should take a pay cut. When asked if he believed other well-paid presenters should also take a pay cut, Dunphy said: “Everybody must make their own mind up, everybody’s circumstances are different, but I could not go on accepting a very large salary while people are losing their jobs.”

Radio and TV presenters Derek Mooney and Miriam O’Callaghan have also indicated their willingness to accepts cuts.

The station’s highest paid star, Pat Kenny, could not be contacted by The Irish Times yesterday, but he was reported in the Evening Herald as saying he was suspicious of the Oireachtas communications committee’s motivation in calling for the cuts.

Efforts were also made yesterday to contact Marian Finucane, Gerry Ryan, Ryan Tubridy and Joe Duffy, but no responses were received.

RTÉ senior management has already had its pay cut by up to 17 per cent. Directly employed staff have been asked to accept a freeze on pay, bonuses and annual increments.