Flashing the cash

Just when RTÉ thought the shit-storm had begun to abate a little, it springs up and howls with hurricane force. Now they’re faced not just with Tubridy’s swollen pay-packet, not just with the top 10 Talents and their wage packets – now it’s the Top 100. Brace yourself if you haven’t already heard: investigation has established that the Top 100 earners in RTÉ all earn at least €117,000. 

What’s that? But tax has to come off that? Yeah, right – just like everybody else, then. Besides which fact, quite a number of them have these add-ons – €25K, €28K  – for cars and travel and all the rest of it. 

When you say there’s 100 stashing it at €117,000 or more (often much more), you might get the idea that everyone in RTÉ is swimming in gravy. Not so. Most of the employees are making something closer to €50,0000, which means they’ll have a fair bit of saving to do before they buy the Lamborghini.

And if you pull back a bit from RTÉ and ask a more general question, you really get into head-scratching territory. Like,  who’s more essential to the successful showing of a programme, the presenter or the camera person? When you think about it, the presenter could be a truly Top Talent, but without the camera rolling, you’d have …well, you’d have no show, good or bad. What about the cleaners who come in and sweep and tidy and clear RTÉ? Would things keep on going if the dust and dirt and grime were allowed to accumulate? Aren’t they pretty essential?

And if you back a bit more, into society in general –  why should Cabinet ministers be chauffeur-driven? Why should the President of Ireland live in a house with over 90 rooms, and only his wife and his little self in it? Why should Michael O’Leary be paid more than the pilots who fly Ryanair planes? 

It’s an issue I’ve struggled with for years and have never had a satisfactory answer.  If everybody regardless of brain or brawn, gender or colour gets to have the same vote in an election, why don’t they all have the same pay packet?

All that said, aren’t the Top 100 in RTÉ on a cushy number and no mistake. But it looks like dies irae, the days of wrath are gathering to fall on RTÉ. So are you crying? I’m not.