RTÉ’s senior management dominate highest earners’ list for 2025

Senior management at RTÉ now dominate the list of its highest paid staff, the public service broadcaster has confirmed ahead of its annual report being published. According to a list of earnings of RTÉ’s “permanent leadership team” and a list for its highest-earning presenters for 2025, the now former RTÉ Radio presenter Claire Byrne was the only on-air talent to be among the highest paid at Montrose.RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst had previously said that pay for executives and presenters would be capped at his own basic salary level of €250,000. This is expected to increase to €270,000 this year after the Government signed off on a pay increase for the broadcasting executive.Bakhurst was the highest paid person at RTÉ in 2025. He earned €339,538 from a basic salary of €250,000, €62,500 in pension payments, €25,000 in allowances and €2,038 in what was described as “other” payments. READ MOREHe was followed by Adrian Lynch, deputy director general, who was a high-profile figure that represented the broadcaster during the fallout of the payments scandal. He earned a total of €293,627 in 2025. Richard Waghorn, chief technology officer, was paid €291,160 and Deirdre McCarthy, director of news and current affairs, received a total of €285,063. The only presenter to feature in the top 10 highest earners in 2025 was Claire Byrne, who has now departed for a new role at Newstalk. Her company, Derrough Media, was paid €280,000 for the “services of Claire Byrne” in 2025. [ Claire Byrne interview: ‘I never really went into this game to be famous’Opens in new window ]The sixth-highest paid person was another executive - Mari Hurley, chief financial officer, who resigned her role earlier this year after 18 months and was paid a total of €276,344 in 2025. An RTÉ spokesman said that the figures for the top-highest paid staff at the broadcaster includes “pension payments and allowances where they exist”. The spokesman added that “newly appointed members of the leadership team had no allowances, such as car allowances, on top of their salaries.”[ Kevin Bakhurst: ‘For many years the level of presenter pay at RTÉ got a little bit out of control’Opens in new window ]Figures for the highest paid executives all include pension payments and allowances of between €19,000 and €25,000. The final five highest paid staff members are all executives, and their total pay packet includes pension payments. They are: Steve Carson, who returned to RTÉ as director of video in 2024, who was paid €276,282; Eimear Cusack, HR director, who faced scrutiny during the payments scandal and had announced she was leaving RTÉ this year, who earned €274,721; Gavin Deans, who joined RTÉ as its commercial director at the end of 2023, who earned €269,055 and Patricia Monahan, who left a senior role at Newstalk to become RTÉ’s director of audio in 2024, who also received exactly €269,055. RTÉ created an executive role in 2025 when it appointed Eleanor O’Shaughnessy as its chief risk and compliance officer. The creation of this role was a key recommendation in an independent review of the governance and culture at RTÉ. O’Shaughnessy, who started her role last summer, received a total of €75,961 last year as a partial annual salary. The top five highest paid on-air presenters at RTÉ in 2025 were: Claire Byrne (€280,000), Patrick Kielty (€266,323), Miriam O’Callaghan (€244,797), Brendan O’Connor (€239,988) and the now former RTE presenter Ray D’Arcy (€219,992). All of the top five paid presenters were paid via their production companies rather than as individuals.