RTÉ’S DEREK MOONEY earned enough to place him among the broadcaster’s 10 highest-paid presenters every year between 2020 and 2025, according to recently published RTÉ figures.

Despite this, he was excluded from the official top 10 highest presenters’ pay list in 2024 because he was formally classified as a “producer” under his contract.

Amid lots of news coverage about the issue, that classification has now been changed, with RTÉ revising its approach and re-labelling Mooney as a presenter in updated figures published this week.

So what exactly does Mooney do at RTÉ?

What RTÉ says he does

Mooney is a well-known presenter, arguably a household name. He’s previously hosted a number of RTÉ’s own television shows from the early 2000s, including Winning Streak, You’re a Star and The Big Money Game.

He also hosted a daily radio show on RTÉ Radio One, the self-titled Mooney, on Monday to Friday from 2006 until 2015.

In 2015, Mooney took up the post of executive producer of RTÉ Radio’s nature and wildlife programming.

In response to queries from The Journal, RTÉ stated that Derek Mooney’s current role involves both producing and presenting for RTÉ Radio 1, alongside television presenting work “as required”.

Now, his main ongoing programme is Mooney Goes Wild on RTÉ Radio 1, a long-running weekly nature and wildlife show that features expert guests, field reports and live coverage of environmental events. It usually airs on Monday evenings.

As well as this, Mooney hosts Nature on One, a monthly documentary series focused on wildlife and conservation which airs on the first Monday of each month.

Earlier this year, he hosted Nature Nights, a radio series which aired over the course of a week in March.

RTÉ also cited the annual Dawn Chorus broadcast, a seven-hour live programme capturing early-morning birdsong on International Dawn Chorus Day, as part of his output.

In addition, Mooney presents Mooney’s Christmas, a Christmas Eve broadcast in which children can phone in to speak to Santa Claus live on air.

On television, RTÉ lists Mooney as the presenter of Back from the Brink, a wildlife documentary series which has run for four series on RTÉ One. The first episode of the show’s fifth series airs on RTÉ One on Sunday.

RTÉ added that Mooney also makes “occasional” presenting appearances on RTÉ One’s Today programme and on Rising Time on RTÉ Radio 1.

Mooney hosted the Today Show as recently as this week, on Thursday and today (Friday).

One job, two labels?

The controversy stems from RTÉ’s decision to initially classify Mooney solely as a producer when compiling its top-earnings disclosures for 2024, before revising that approach this week to include him as a presenter for ranking purposes.

He earned €197,151 in 2024 and €202,264 in 2025, enough to get him eighth and seventh place respectively on the top 10 lists of RTÉ’s highest-paid presenters for those years.

RTÉ has since said it “reconsidered what constitutes a presenter” for the purposes of its top 10 list, and that Mooney was reclassified accordingly.

Director General Kevin Bakhurst said the earlier classification was “justifiable”, but that RTÉ now takes a different view.

“We want maximum transparency for the audience who pay for RTÉ,” he said.

The Journal has asked for clarification from RTÉ over its annual salary for producers being in the range of around €90,000 over the last five years.

It’s understood that Mooney is paid one salary for a “dual role”, his on-air work and his producing, but he has a single job title. RTÉ said in a statement to The Journal earlier that this does not constitute being paid for two distinct jobs.

“No. Derek’s role, as per his contract, is designated as a producer,” an RTÉ spokesperson said.

“For the purposes of compiling the Top Ten for 2025, RTÉ reconsidered the designation and included him as a presenter.” 

Media Minister Patrick O’Donovan said he was only informed of the classification change after RTÉ was contacted for comment, describing the situation as “here we go again”.

He questioned how Mooney could have been categorised as anything other than a presenter in practice, saying: “It’s like a duck, if it walks and quacks like a duck, it’s a duck.”

RTÉ has defended its approach, saying Mooney has long worked under a producer contract but has also taken on presenting duties as part of his role.

Bakhurst said Mooney has been on a producer and executive producer contract for decades, but acknowledged that he is “best known as a presenter”.

Additional reporting by Diarmuid Pepper