Laois broadcaster Claire Byrne reveals RTÉ fees live on radio

Mountrath woman and RTÉ presenter Claire Byrne said her fee with the national broadcaster has fallen since she stopped hosting her weekly current affairs television programme.

Byrne was speaking on her daily radio show for the first time since a scandal emerged over undisclosed payments to RTE star Ryan Tubridy.

She had not been on air since the scandal began after going on a family trip to Co Kerry.

“I saw and heard the news coming in just as everyone else did. I had no prior warning, no inkling that there was a problem on the horizon and I wasn’t even aware that presenter fees were subjected to a Grant Thornton review. I knew absolutely nothing about it.

“Just like everyone else, I’ve been grappling over the last few days with what has happened and the implications of it for all of us here in RTE and for you, who rely on us and expect us to be completely transparent.”

Byrne said she heard “heartbreaking” expressions of broken trust made by RTÉ viewers and listeners to call-in show Liveline over the matter.

“As programme makers, our aim is always to be consistent, fair and professional and to respect the hard-earned trust that you, the audience, has placed in us.”

Byrne’s fee has been published by RTÉ on a biennial basis because she is among the top 10 on-air earners in the organisation.

“The fee that has been published for me most recently is correct, as are those published in the past,” she said.

“I have never sought, been offered or discussed any kind of commercial or side deal. No other payment exists or has ever existed beyond my published fee.

“Secondly, my most recent published fee was €350,000.

“That was the fee agreed by RTE for me to present this radio programme and Claire Byrne Live and, as you know, I decided not to continue with that television show for personal and family reasons.

“And so in order to be fully transparent with you, I want you to know that my RTE fee now is €280,000 and that fee is for presenting this programme. That last contract was negotiated by Noel Kelly.

“I recently presented the television quiz show Ireland’s Smartest and for that I was paid a separate fee of €25,000.

“That contract was negotiated by other members of the NK Management company.”

Byrne said she acknowledged this was a significant fee and “beyond what many people could hope to earn”.

“There are others who will, no doubt, have more to say about it, I am sure, but my personal decision here this morning is to be open and honest with you,” she said.

“But my decision to do this is not meant to set a precedent for others or to force anyone else to release their information. That is a matter entirely for themselves.

“I felt that, for me, it was the right thing to do today.

“With that fee that I earn comes a duty for me to treat this position with respect and I hope that you can trust me and the team of journalists I work with to cover this story with the same rigour and balance as we would any other story on this programme,” she said.