Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent) | Oireachtas source

It is all public service. People are annoyed about this. I do not want to personalise this; Ryan Tubridy is entitled to earn as much as he can. He is obviously a talented individual. However, his contract was being negotiated at the same time as RTÉ was closing Lyric in Limerick to save money. How does RTÉ determine the worth of a presenter? In Britain it is clear that if an organisation wants to hold onto somebody it has to pay them more than a commercial rival would. It is very clear that in Ireland the commercial rivals are not going to pay anything like the sums RTÉ is paying people. If they leave RTÉ for money, they have to go to North America - depending on their language skills they can go wherever they want, but generally if they leave RTÉ for money they go to North America or the United Kingdom. If they go there, they are not competing with RTÉ. It is a bit like League of Ireland footballers. Those who are like Roy Keane move onto Manchester United or stay with Cobh Ramblers - there is a difference in what they are paid. How on earth can RTÉ determine the worth of somebody?