RTÉ EXECUTIVES WILL face fresh scrutiny before the Oireachtas media committee this afternoon, as the broadcaster grapples with another controversy over presenter payments and transparency.

The two-hour committee session is expected to focus heavily on whether RTÉ has learned lessons from previous governance failures, as well as efforts to rebuild public trust in the broadcaster.

The appearance comes after Director General Kevin Bakhurst, deputy Director Adrian Lynch and board chairman Terence O’Rourke met communications minister Patrick O’Donovan on Tuesday evening amid mounting political pressure over the issue.

Bakhurst and Lynch will today be questioned over the broadcaster’s revised list of highest-paid presenters, which was updated last week to include Derek Mooney after he had previously been classified as a producer rather than a presenter.

Mooney, who has presented programmes on RTÉ for decades, was added to the 2024 list as the broadcaster’s eighth highest-paid presenter on a salary of €197,151.

RTÉ also confirmed he earned €202,264 in 2025, making him the seventh highest-paid presenter last year.

Committee members are expected to press RTÉ on why Mooney was excluded from previous top-earner lists dating back to 2020, as well as broader questions around governance, transparency and payments to presenters.

Fiann Fáil TD Malcolm Byrne, a member of the media committee, said on Tuesday that all personnel in RTÉ in receipt of over €100,000 in salaries or payments for services should have those details published as part of the organisation’s annual accounts.

“We need to restore confidence in RTÉ,” Byrne said. “I appreciate that management have been making some moves to clear up the mess of the past but every time a new revelation emerges, particularly about pay, it damages trust in the broadcaster.”

Byrne added that throughout the committee’s previous engagements with RTÉ: “I have repeatedly asked the same question: ‘Is there anything else?’ Yet we continue to discover further issues.”

The controversy has drawn comparisons to the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal, which plunged the broadcaster into crisis in 2023 and triggered multiple Oireachtas inquiries.

According to a briefing report circulated by RTÉ to TDs ahead of the meeting, the company recorded a surplus for last year. It noted in the briefing report that it previously reported a surplus of €5.3m for 2024, compared to a deficit of €10.3m in 2023.

It also reported that there are 17 staff remaining on an old pension scheme with a market value of €1 billion. No new employees have been admitted to the scheme since 1989.

Late Arena presenter

The controversy has also widened following reports concerning the late Seán Rocks.

According to RTÉ News, his partner Catherine Bailey met O’Donovan on Tuesday to express concerns that Rocks had also been classified primarily as a producer despite being best known as presenter of RTÉ Radio One’s Arena programme.

Bailey said the classification had implications for her and her family following Rocks’ death last July.

Speaking ahead of Tuesday’s meeting with RTÉ executives, O’Donovan said he had heard from many RTÉ staff members in recent days, including “widows of the organisation”, and said there was concern about “people being paid under one heading and acting under another heading”.

Tánaiste Simon Harris this week criticised what he described as an apparent “upstairs-downstairs” culture within RTÉ, saying there appeared to be “a fairness issue here, there’s a transparency issue here, and then there’s just an accuracy issue here”.

O’Donovan has ordered an audit of presenter payments dating back to 2020 and questioned why his department was not informed sooner about Mooney’s categorisation.

The minister also said he wanted further clarity on payments made to Claire Byrne and Ray D’Arcy after both presenters left RTÉ Radio One last October.

RTÉ’s published figures showed Byrne received around €47,000 and D’Arcy around €50,000 after departing from the broadcaster.

Bakhurst has defended those payments, saying both presenters had contractual entitlements and that legal disputes would likely have cost the broadcaster more.

The committee hearing comes as cabinet signed off on new broadcasting legislation aimed at strengthening oversight of RTÉ and TG4 on Tuesday.

Under the proposed reforms, RTÉ’s finances would come under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General, while the broadcaster would also face stricter reporting requirements around spending, commissioning decisions and pay transparency.