Questions must be answered about the pay of female talent at RTÉ – Kingston

Labour spokesperson on Equality, Deirdre Kingston, has repeated Labour’s call for RTÉ to come clean on their organisational gender pay gap before they are required to do so in response to a request the Party has lodged under the Freedom of Information Act.

It comes as the national broadcaster today unveiled that just three of its top-ten earning presenters are women.

Councillor Kingston commented:

“Despite the wealth of female talent at RTÉ, today we have seen that women account for just three of the top ten earning presenters at the national broadcaster.

“Questions must be answered as to why this situation exists.

“In recent weeks, we have heard from senior women in RTÉ who made clear that in the interests of transparency, the broadcaster should publish the necessary information to disclose whether a similar gender pay gap exists at all levels within the organisation.

“Last week my colleague Senator Ivana Bacik lodged a Freedom of Information request asking for a breakdown by gender of RTÉ staff earning different amounts.

“While RTÉ legally has three weeks to release this information, I repeat the call for them to be up front with it now.

“Inequalities can only be tackled when there is transparency. As a publicly funded body, RTÉ have an obligation to be fully transparent on these matters, and to put plans in place to rectify any gender pay gay that is revealed.

“It is important that in every large organisation we develop a culture of transparency regarding disparities in pay scales, so that any gender pay gap can ultimately be eradicated.”