RTÉ’s Director-General Kevin Bakhurst has accepted there could be "one or two cases" where people in the organisation are earning more than him.
He has previously said that no-one at the broadcaster should earn more than he does.
Mr Bakhurst appeared before the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Media for a scheduled meeting on funding and pensions.
It also dealt with revelations around presenter pay that emerged last week.
Committee chair, Labour TD Alan Kelly, challenged Mr Bakhurst, saying: "There could very well be a scenario ... where somebody working in RTÉ is actually earning more than you".
The director general agreed, adding: "There could be in one or two cases."
Mr Bakhurst has a basic salary of €250,000 and is entitled to a car allowance of €25,000 as well as a pension contribution of €62,500 - taking his overall package to €337,500.
Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan asked if some of the "big names" are potentially earning multiples of the basic pay of the leadership through being a presenter, producer and a company owner responsible for several different productions.
Mr Bakhurst replied: "I don’t they are. I think we may be talking about one person here."
Last week, RTÉ said that Derek Mooney has been at least its ninth highest-paid presenter since 2020, but had not featured in annual top 10 lists as he was classified as a producer.
Mr Bakhurst told the committee that some of the commentary around the revelation was "unfair".
"We were trying to do the right thing to be more transparent by putting this out and there was comments around it, which I thought were unfair. And there was a price for it."
Mr Mooney now appears eighth on the 2024 list with a salary of €197,151 after RTÉ "reconsidered what constitutes a presenter".
Mr Bakhurst said the then director general and then chief financial officer took a decision in 2020 that he was working more as a producer than a presenter.
Sinn Féin TD Joanna Byrne asked who made the decision to exclude Mr Mooney from the annual list of the top-10 highest earning presenters between 2020 and 2024.
Mr Bakhurst said: "From what we’ve seen, the decision was taken by the CFO (chief financial officer) and the director general" that the balance of his work was he did more producing than presenting.
"Though we took a different view, which is he’s well known as a presenter."
Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch added a "clarification": "It was an instruction that was given to a person in payments that - per DG (director general) - he was to be classified as a producer."
Mr Bakhurst explained that RTÉ staff members have been put on "personal contracts" that exceed the salary cap for their role.
He said this would have happened in circumstances where someone had been offered a job somewhere else and the broadcaster wanted to "keep them".
However, he said that RTÉ does not "do it any more really".
Mr Bakhurst also told the committee that there are some presenters who work for independent companies providing content to the broadcaster separately to their direct work.
It was not industry practice anywhere in Europe to include those earnings in overall salary figures, he said, but RTÉ could "look at it".
Presenter Oliver Callan was cited as an example, who is also a producer on the satire shows Callan’s Kicks and Callan Kicks the Year.
Senator Rónán Mullen told Mr Bakhurst: "I am astounded to learn today what I think you’ve said, which is that it remains the case that through a combination of a personal salary and a payment to a company, a person might avoid being mentioned in the top 10.
"I actually thought we had moved beyond all that, and listening then to talk of it still being possible, if I understand you correctly, that a person could be put on a personal contract that they bring you to exceed the cap.
"It sounds to me like we’re still down an Animal Farm and that some animals are still more equal than others, and the public is still in the dark."
Fine Gael Senator and former RTÉ sports broadcaster Evanne Ní Chuilinn criticised a "two-tier system" at her previous employer.
She said there are people presenting high-profile programmes without presenter contracts.
They had been asked to be reclassified, similar to Mr Mooney, Ms Ní Chuillinn said, but were told they could not.
She said that she asked repeatedly for a presenter contract but never received one.
"I was never paid or contracted as a presenter, and I should have been, because, as you say, presenters earn more than reporters."
As an example, she said, there was someone on €70,000 presenting World Cup programmes and researchers presenting the Today show.
Mr Bakhurst said he did not believe they were on researcher contracts and said there had always been a range of salaries for presenters depending on experience, how they connect with the audience, and how valued they are.
Ms Ní Chuilinn said: "I was good money, I was worth the money that you paid, you got good value out of me."
She also told the committee that she was "treated very poorly" by the head of sport and another senior figure.
RTÉ not releasing information in 'drip-drip' fashion
Mr Bakhurst said that the broadcaster was not releasing information in a "drip-drip" fashion.
Responding to Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan, who questioned him on whether he was the right person to lead the organisation and stop a "drip-drip" of information, the director general said: "It’s not a drip-drip. When we discover things, we will put them in the public domain."
Mr Brennan described the return of RTÉ's leadership to Leinster House as "déjà vu" and claimed the public was not getting transparency from the broadcaster.
Deputy Byrne said that it was "Groundhog Day" and told Mr Bakhurst that there was a perception that the broadcaster was playing "fast and loose" with the public purse.
Mr Bakhurst said this was not the case, but acknowledged the complexity of the broadcaster's historical approach to contracts and employment can "appear opaque and confusing".
"We find ourselves addressing decades of variable approaches and practices.
"Notwithstanding the complexity, I and RTÉ remain fiercely committed to the transparent reform of legacy matters in the interests of both RTÉ and its staff, and in the interest of best practice reporting too," he said.
"We are serious about making improvements and addressing issues as they arise.
"When looking at this issue, rigour and thoroughness was front and centre of our deliberations.
"As this outcome confirms, that may create challenges, especially in terms of surfacing legacy issues and practices."
Mr Bakhurst said that he was "in favour" of publishing a list of the top 100 earners.
He also also defended the €725 million that it is receiving in Government funding, saying: "The multi-annual commitment to €725m of secure funding across three years is not, as has been termed, a bailout."
Minister for Media Patrick O'Donovan said last week that RTÉ was being "bailed out by the taxpayer".
Read more:
Updates as they happened
RTÉ 'paid a price for transparency', says Director General
RTÉ revises 2024 top earning presenters list to include Mooney
An official from the Department of Culture, Communications and Sport told the committee that RTÉ continues to "deliver on its strategy priorities, which not only commit to reforms, but also to improving how it fulfills its public service obligations to the Irish public".
Assistant Secretary in the Media and Broadcasting Division Tríona Quill described pensions at the broadcaster as "a key issue".
"The department appreciates the pension scheme members need assurance that their pension schemes are healthy, robust and sustainable, and that their own present and future financial security is safeguarded."
She said the department actively engages with relevant individuals to ensure this.
