Row Erupts at RTE over Gender Pay Gap

Bosses at RTE are under increasing pressure from their most prominent female staff to publish the current salaries of its broadcasters as the controversy over the gender pay gap continues.

Following in the wake of the recent publishing by the BBC of salaries showing pay disparity between its male and female workers, two of the station’s most senior correspondents last night publicly called on RTÉ to follow suit.

Joining news anchor Sharon Ní Bheoláin, Emma O’Kelly Education correspondent and Martina Fitzgerald political correspondent are calling for more transparency surrounding pay.

According to recent Sunday Independent revelations it appears that Ms Ní Bheoláin earns in the region of €60,000-€80,000 less than Bryan Dobsan her co-anchor on the ‘Six One News’.

Since the BBC published the details of all its top broadcasters, a significant group of female staff have privately voiced their deep dissatisfaction over the gender pay gap at Montrose.

Ms Ní Bheoláin, who confirmed she earned “considerably less” than Mr Dobson, said the issues of inequality and gender pay needed to be examined.

A number of politicians, including Communications Minister Denis Naughten, have in recent days piled pressure on RTÉ to become as transparent as the BBC. RTÉ has said it will publish updated figures by the end of the year.

A spokesperson for RTÉ said in a statement: “RTÉ salaries and fees take into account a wide range of factors including levels of experience, length of service and range of duties or programming a person is involved in. RTÉ does not comment on individual staff salaries.”

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