{"id":459884,"date":"2026-05-21T10:16:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:16:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/459884\/"},"modified":"2026-05-21T10:16:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-21T10:16:14","slug":"raidio-teilifis-entertainment-draws-another-big-crowd-for-its-latest-kildare-street-outing-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/459884\/","title":{"rendered":"Raidi\u00f3 Teilif\u00eds Entertainment draws another big crowd for its latest Kildare Street outing \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Another top notch Kildare Street outing from RT\u00c9<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Raidi\u00f3 Teilif\u00eds Entertainment.<\/p>\n

These guys are troupers.<\/p>\n

They never fail to deliver a terrific show whenever they play Leinster House. <\/p>\n

The hall was packed for Wednesday\u2019s double-hander starring director general Kevin Bakhurst<\/a> and his sidekick, deputy DG Adrian Lynch<\/a>. <\/p>\n

They always pull a big crowd.<\/p>\n

Not that this right pair of smoothies had much to do during their appearance before the Oireachtas<\/a> media committee \u2013 they barely got a chance to say anything.<\/p>\n

The politicians just barked at them for most of their 2\u00bd hours in the spotlight.<\/p>\n

But it was a good show. <\/p>\n

This meeting featured a bonus episode of Callan<\/a>\u2019s Kicks, aired live from Committee Room One.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0\u2018Waste of space\u2019: What we learned about RT\u00c9 from today\u2019s Oireachtas committee hearingOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Or Callan\u2019s Kicked, as it turned out, with TDs and Senators getting stuck into what exactly RT\u00c9 pays the broadcaster and satirist who has a daily two-hour show, a weekly political satire show and TV comedy specials in the new year.<\/p>\n

He is paid \u20ac150,000 for his recently landed radio gig, his own production company has produced Callan\u2019s for years and an independent company engages him to do the one-off shows. <\/p>\n

Three Olivers in the one job, as the members saw it. And they wanted a full breakdown of payments.<\/p>\n

For the transparency, like.<\/p>\n

At the start, Alan Kelly, committee chairman and scenery chewer-in-chief, was delighted to announce that they had a full house and the members took this to heart, constantly cutting off the witnesses as soon as they opened their mouths to explain or schmoozify. <\/p>\n

\"LynchLynch leaves Leinster House after the Oireachtas committee appearance. Photograph: Dara Mac D\u00f3naill <\/p>\n

A number of officials from the Department of Culture, Media and Sport formed a supporting cast. They were relegated to the role of spear carriers for the duration of the show, except when one or two kinder committee members noticed their lonesome plight and fired off a cursory question.<\/p>\n

The meeting was the usual rip-roaring fare but was sold short by the authorities as \u201can engagement with RT\u00c9 about funding and pensions\u201d. <\/p>\n

But it was much more than that, particularly when a fresh presenter payments scandalette \u2013 not on a par with the 2023 Ryan Tubridy Summer of Uproar from 2023 \u2013 is hogging the headlines.<\/p>\n

TDs and Senators of the media committee were suitably horrified on behalf of the dwindling licence-holders and the thoroughly demoralised journalistic staff in Montrose.<\/p>\n

The controversy sparked by the news that wildlife presenter Derek Mooney<\/a> was reclassified as a producer which meant his \u20ac200,000 salary did not appear in the list of top earners, led the intrepid politicians on a fascinating trawl around what other well known RT\u00c9 figures might be paid. <\/p>\n

\u201cUnfortunately, this isn\u2019t another scandal\u201d sighed Kilkenny \u2018s Peter \u201cChap\u201d Cleere (Fianna F\u00e1il) at the beginning of his routine.<\/p>\n

But, chin up. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt appears to be a culture that is happening in RT\u00c9.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brian Brennan, the Fine Gael TD for Wicklow-Wexford couldn\u2019t agree more.<\/p>\n

\u201cScandal after scandal and as sure as night follows day we\u2019ll be back here again in six months\u201d he told directors Kevin and Adrian (Kadrian).<\/p>\n

Brian wondered if \u201cthe structures are in place to stop this drip, drip of skeleton upon skeleton?\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s like the vaults of St Michan\u2019s in Montrose these days, which would be a health and safety issue in most other organisations. <\/p>\n

No wonder staff are disgruntled.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0It\u2019s hard to work up any outrage about yet another grubby payments controversy at RT\u00c9Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

We know this because the TDs and Senators told Kadrian that they received tons of messages from them in advance of the meeting, complaining about unfair treatment when it comes to pay levels, job recognition and commensurate work.<\/p>\n

Dublin-Rathdown TD Sinead Gibney (Social Democrats) had so many questions to ask she hadn\u2019t time for the answers. <\/p>\n

They ranged from RT\u00c9 \u201chaving a KPMG-consulting CFO\u201d to a request to abandon coverage of the Ireland-Israel football game and \u201cspecifically, I wanted to talk about Up for the Match\u201d. <\/p>\n

Des Cahill, long-time presenter of the popular All-Ireland Final preview show which is to be outsourced to an independent company, was also up for mention. But for a different reason.<\/p>\n

Chap Cleere came up out with an unexpected zinger when he inquired; \u201cIf you are an RT\u00c9 contestant on Dancing with the Stars, do you get a payment as well as your salary?\u201d<\/p>\n

Dep DG Lynch was ready with his answer because a press query had just come in with the same question, which was rather coincidental for Chap.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, I can confirm that Marty Morrissey did not get paid,\u201d he smiled, delighted with himself because no RT\u00c9 committee appearance can happen without the obligatory mention of GAA guru and man about town, Marty. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe didn\u2019t deserve to get paid for the quality of his dancing, in fairness\u201d replied the TD.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I\u2019ve seen Chap doing the Charleston\u201d quipped his party colleague, Malcolm Bryne.<\/p>\n

And the other dancer was Des, \u201cwho is a contractor\u201d added Adrian. <\/p>\n

Did other RT\u00c9 people appear not on the show, wondered the former Kilkenny hurler, knowing full well that they did.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll have to check.\u201d <\/p>\n

Fine Gael Senator, Garret Ahearn, turned his attention to the Ireland-Czech Republic World Cup qualifying game in Prague and the fact that RT\u00c9 sent a 41-strong team to cover it for its various platforms.<\/p>\n

Bakhurst said the radio contingent made a profit for RT\u00c9 after expenses due to commercial tie-ins. <\/p>\n

Then Garret got forensic. <\/p>\n

\u201cAnd of the 41 people, does that include the 2 Johnnies?\u201d <\/p>\n

Apparently not. <\/p>\n

Their answers about some employees getting personal deals far above the salary of colleagues doing similar work astonished Senator Ron\u00e1n Mullen. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt sounds like you\u2019re still out on Animal Farm and that some animals are still more equal than others.\u201d<\/p>\n

Of course, amid all this kickabout, there were serious points at issue. <\/p>\n

They were brought home in stark terms by former broadcasters turned Senators Alison Comyn \u2013 \u201cone system for journalists and one for the \u2018stars\u2019\u201d \u2013 and Evanne N\u00ed Chuilainn, until last year a former high-profile RT\u00c9 sports presenter. <\/p>\n

She presented the director general and his deputy with some stark facts about the large numbers of people in RT\u00c9 \u2013 she was one of them \u2013 battling an unfair \u201ctwo-tier system\u201d.<\/p>\n

It was a rare moment, for any committee, when it\u2019s usually the top brass on one side lining up against the top brass on the other. <\/p>\n

This was someone who lived the reality of \u201cpoorly treated\u201d presenters, journalists and producers in RT\u00c9, cutting through the noise and articulate sidesteps.<\/p>\n

And chairman Kelly, through the silently listening executives, issued a searing rebuke to their organisation for the \u201chorrendous\u201d way that the late Se\u00e1n Rocks, the highly regarded arts show presenter, was treated over the last 16 years when his job was wrongly classified, leading now to severe financial implications for his partner and their children. <\/p>\n

Maybe, Alan hoped, Sean will be the \u201csymbol\u201d, the catalyst for action to implement real change and transparency in RT\u00c9. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Another top notch Kildare Street outing from RT\u00c9. Raidi\u00f3 Teilif\u00eds Entertainment. These guys are troupers. They never fail…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":124660,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[199117,15049,93,61,60,47232,31650,12636,41142,6085],"class_list":["post-459884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-adrian-lynch","tag-dail-eireann","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-kevin-bakhurst","tag-miriam-lord","tag-oireachtas","tag-oliver-callan","tag-rte"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=459884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/459884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/124660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=459884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=459884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=459884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}