Fianna Fáil TD Mattie McGrath has called for a total review of payments from RTÉ to a number of their presenters.
Deputy McGrath made his call after yesterday's meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Communications.
Figures for the ten highest paid presenters for 2006 on an earnings basis were presented to the committee.
Deputy McGrath says he has calculated it takes 5,307 TV License holder contributions of €160 to meet the cost of paying RTÉ's highest paid presenter for one year.
He said that in these challenging times he is calling for the top earning presenters in RTÉ to take considerable pay cuts in line with the move to reduce expenses in the public service.
‘I think it's an outrage that RTÉ does not provide a full list of earnings for its top earners on an annual basis’ said Deputy McGrath.
He expressed disappointment that the committee only received figures for 2006 and said the figures probably do not reflect current scale of payments.
‘The Government is currently in the midst of discussions regarding reform of the public services. If these reforms go ahead then the ordinary employees in RTÉ will almost certainly have to take a pay cut. Yet those top earners in RTÉ will be exempted’, he said.
Deputy McGrath said he will be asking for these issues to be raised further at the Oireachtas Committee and will also be writing to Minister for Communications Eamon Ryan and asking him to intervene.
‘I honestly can't believe RTÉ has been allowed to get away with this for so long’, he said.
In response, an RTÉ spokesperson said: 'It would be entirely inappropriate for RTÉ to give details in relation to contractual details or negotiations with 'top talent'. All are individual suppliers with commercially sensitive contractual relationships with RTÉ. RTÉ is taking all appropriate steps to optimise efficiency and value-for-money within RTÉ.'
