Joe Duffy - Earnings

Earnings

Duffy earned €408,889 in 2008. RTÉ's Director General said there was “no question that by today's standards” the salaries paid to its top presenters last year “were excessive. I have to repeat that they were set at a different time in a different competitive reality where some of this talent might be up for poaching by other organisations and in RTÉ's view at the time, they delivered value for money". Listeners, who contacted RTÉ Radio 1's Drivetime programme were swift to condemn the salary level, saying it was ironic that programmes like Liveline – presented by Joe Duffy – were used as a platform for criticising the pay and expenses of Oireachtas members.

Duffy defended his own high wages and those of his fellow RTÉ presenters while appearing on TV3's Midweek in October 2011, claiming they were agreed “fair and square”. The following month, his 2009 earnings were revealed by RTÉ to have been €389,314. He defended this by saying he considered himself and his Liveline show "good value" for RTÉ.