RTÉ’s reclassification of Derek Mooney as a presenter has created “more questions than answers”, the Minister for Communications has said.
Last week, the broadcaster announced a revision in its list of the top 10 highest-earning presenters for 2024.
The change saw Derek Mooney appear with a salary of €197,151, who had previously been classified as a producer.
RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurt said the majority of Mr Mooney’s work was as a producer; however, he noted the change was made as most members of the public know him as a presenter.
On Newstalk Breakfast, Minister Patrick O’Donovan said the news had come as a surprise to him.
“To be honest about it, a lot of the information that you and your listeners require, some of the information that I require as well, I only became aware of this very late last week,” he explained.
“Once I became aware of it, I first of all looked to meet the chair and then looked to meet the director general and the chair today.
“It seems that there has been some sort of a ‘recategorisation’, for want of a better word, where a person could, who clearly was a presenter like Anton Savage's a presenter, was categorised as a producer.”
RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst. Picture by: Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie.Minister O’Donovan said he now wants to know if Mr Mooney is the only producer who could potentially be reclassified as a presenter.
“Are there any instances of where there could potentially be persons in one element being an employee of the organisation and the other element being a contractor contracted into the organisation to do work?” he queried.
“And are we seeing a whole of person picture with regard to the numbers?”
Minister O’Donovan added that he has a meeting with the Director General scheduled for after lunch, where he intends to press him for answers.
“I think this reclassification thing has caused more questions than answers,” he said.
“Certainly, I think people want to know, are there more? What was the motivation, as you ask? What was the timing?
“On what basis was the decision made? Who made the decision? Were the board aware of it? What level of the executive were aware of it?
“I've never heard of it in any part of the public sector - and I'm dealing with the public sector now almost my entire working life - where a person is reclassified in terms of their title, but their role remains the same.”
Mr Bakhurt has said the changes to Mr Mooney’s classification within RTÉ were made in an effort to be “transparent” with the public.
Main image: Split of Derek Mooney and Patrick O'Donovan. Picture by: Alamy.com.
