The Taoiseach has said it is "difficult to comprehend" the latest payment revelation at RTÉ.
Speaking at the start of the Fianna Fáil Ard Fheis in Dublin, Micheál Martin said he welcomed the transparency proffered by the broadcaster in relation to Derek Mooney's pay arrangements and that he listened intently to Director General Kevin Bakhurst's remarks earlier.
He told reporters: "I welcome the transparency that was in evidence in terms of the clarification that RTÉ brought forward this morning.
"I understand the minister (Patrick O'Donovan) will be meeting with the chair and director general of RTÉ and we again welcome that transparency.
"It's important to retain confidence in the public. Difficult to comprehend what transpired, but nonetheless the correct decision was taken to correct that."
When asked whether the Director General's expected pay rise of €20,000 should go ahead in light of yesterday's revelation, Mr Martin said the Government "didn't want to be micromanaging RTÉ".
He said: "We don't want to be micromanaging RTÉ or commercial semi-states.
"A formal decision has to come to Government but there is a market place out there and one has to be senisble on how to go about things."
Watch: Taoiseach says 'difficult to comprehend what transpired' at RTÉ
Minister asks for RTÉ payments from 2020 to be examined
Earlier, Minister for Arts, Culture and Media Patrick O'Donovan said he only became aware of RTÉ’s revision of its top 10 highest-earning presenters when the department was contacted by RTÉ’s Prime Time programme.
He said upon receiving the media request, he sought a meeting with Chair of the RTÉ Board Terence O’Rourke which was held remotely along with department officials.
Mr O’Donovan said payments going back as far as 2020 will need to be looked at.
New figures released by RTÉ show Derek Mooney would have appeared in RTÉ's top 10 highest earning presenters list from 2020 to 2023 if he was categorised as a presenter during those years.
RTÉ published Mr Mooney's earnings for 2020 to 2023 this afternoon with his permission.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, Minister O'Donovan said: "The Derek Mooney issue here I think is a side issue. I think the greater issue here is payments in their entirety across the organisation in the period from 2020 onwards."
Mr O’Donovan said he believed payments in this period "should have been subject to audit" and that he does not know how it wasn’t uncovered earlier.
"It coincides in a period of time when the company is being bailed out by the taxpayer to the tune of almost three-quarters of a billion euro.
"We thought we had seen the last of this, but obviously now we have further questions.
"I have convened a meeting in the department on Tuesday between myself, officials and representatives of RTÉ to include the chair and Director General."
Listen: 'I just want to know what is the bottom line' - O'Donovan
Mr O’Donovan also questioned how Mr Mooney could have been regarded as "anything other than a presenter".
"He was a presenter, he is a presenter, he's always a presenter.
"It’s like a duck. If it walks and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.
"But for some reason unbeknownst to the current chairman, he was recategorised."
Minister O'Donovan said he wants to know if there are other people in RTÉ receiving payments that were not previously known.
"I want to know if there are other persons or individuals in the organisation that are in receipt of monies from the public purse essentially, because this is all coming from the Department of Communication at this stage, that are receipt of monies from more than one titledom.
"If there is, obviously it’s the cumulative amount which is the amount that I’m interested in.
We need your consent to load this rte-player contentWe use rte-player to manage extra content that can set cookies on your device and collect data about your activity. Please review their details and accept them to load the content.Manage Preferences
"I thought we had put all of this to bed under the previous minister when the company was bailed out to the extent of three-quarters-of-a-billion euro yet here we are now on the eve of the publication of a set of accounts where a person’s categorisation is being recategorised.
"I don’t want this to become about Derek Mooney because I think that’s not just unfortunate, it’s also wrong, this is obviously something that an auditor at some stage along the line between 2020 and 2025... it must have been brought to their attention that a producer in the organisation being paid that level of monies."
Mr Donovan also questioned how it couldn't have been flagged if the top-scale pay for a producer is €90,000.
"We have to have confidence in a public service broadcaster, but it's a bit like Groundhog Day, here we are again."
An RTÉ spokesperson has said that they are planning to release Mr Mooney's earnings for the years 2020 to 2023, with the permission of Derek Mooney, as soon as possible.
Read More: Reclassification of Mooney role 'perfectly justifiable' - RTÉ DG
