Ryan Tubridy top of the pile as RTÉ releases top earners list for 2022

Simon Kelly

The top six on the list were all paid contractors.

Ryan Tubridy has topped the pile of RTÉ‘s highest earners for 2022, as the national broadcaster released its top ten list this week.

RTÉ revealed its top ten names with the largest salary for 2022, along with restated earnings for 2021.

Tubridy’s stated earnings were listed as €515,000 for the year before he left the broadcaster, following the payments scandal which ensued in 2023.

Tubridy top of the pile as RTÉ releases top earners list for 2022

The top six highest earners at RTÉ for 2022 were all paid contractors, with Joe Duffy following behind Tubridy at €351,000, unchanged from what he earned in 2021.

Radio presenter Claire Byrne was next with earnings of €320,833, dropping from €350,000 the previous year.

Miriam O’Callaghan was next with €263,000 in 2022, the same as her 2021 earnings.

RTE top earners

Then came Ray D’Arcy with earnings of €250,000, a drop of €100,000 from the previous year and down from €450,000 in 2019, which made him the second-highest earner at the time.

Brendan O’Connor was sixth-highest, earning just over €245,000 in both 2021 and 2022.

The top paid employee at the station and seventh-highest earner for 2022 was retiring Bryan Dobson with earnings of €209,681, up from €209,282 for 2021.

Mary Wilson was the eighth highest, with €197,643 in 2022, up from €196,961 in 2021.

Ninth was sports presenter Darragh Maloney, earning €184,501 in 2022, up from €183,738 in 2021.

The tenth highest paid earner was RTÉ’s Environment Correspondent George Lee, with €179,821 in 2022, slightly more than the €179,131 for 2021.

RTÉ said the published earnings represent salaries, employer pension contributions and related benefits and doesn’t include fees paid by independent production companies for programming content or content commissioned by RTÉ.

It also added that contractors (the top six in the list) do not earn salaries and RTÉ does not make pension contributions on their behalf.

Ryan Tubridy

RTÉ Deputy Director-General Adrian Lynch said: “As previously confirmed by Kevin Bakhurst, going forward, details of RTÉ’s highest paid presenters will be published annually as part of RTÉ’s Annual Report starting with RTÉ’s 2023 Annual Report which will be published later this year.

“While RTÉ has committed to reducing the cost of its highest paid presenters to ensure that no contractors or employees will earn more than the Director-General, our presenters play an important role in RTÉ’s provision of vital news, information and entertainment to audiences right across the country and enable us to generate commercial revenue which is essential to fund RTÉ’s public services.”