Limerick journalist is leading the calls for change at RTÉ

THE REVELATIONS around top presenters' pay have revealed a tale of two RTÉs in recent weeks, and a Limerick woman has become a leading voice for those feeling shortchanged.

Leading the charge in Donnybrook is Limerick woman, Emma O’Kelly.

As the NUJ Dublin Broadcasting chair, a clip of her describing the pay and conditions at RTÉ went viral after last week's lunchtime protest by staff.

“For years, we felt we couldn't speak out because everybody says ‘ah sure, you're all the same and you're all on these big fat salaries’, and we often have been very frustrated by that image because we knew it wasn't true,” Emma told the Leader.

The RTÉ of today is very different from the one Emma joined originally.

‘Limerick through and through’, she was raised on the Ennis Road in the city by a mother from Mungret and a father from Wolfe Tone Street.

She spent some years in Spain teaching English after studying at Trinity, but “I've always loved people's stories, and I love the English language so I put those two things together and came up with journalism”.

Major garda investigation in Limerick town after ‘vicious’ videos of girls fighting shared widely

She did a masters in journalism in DCU in the early nineties before joining RTÉ, which felt like a huge privilege at the time.

Over the years however, she has seen a change creep in.

“I’ve had an amazing career at RTÉ. We were always stretched and we always worked hard, but back then we seemed to have so many more resources,” she explained.

“But in recent years, things have been whittled away. The demand has increased exponentially - with online and social media - and at the same time, the staffing seems to have reduced

“We were always stretched thin, but now it seems like we're almost at a breaking point.”

The general staff at RTÉ want a ‘root and branch change’ to come from the damning revelations of recent weeks, according to Emma.

“We want a culture change. We are funded by the Irish taxpayer and the Irish TV licence payer, and they deserve the absolute highest standards of transparency from us,” she stressed.

They also want a ceiling on high salaries across the board.

“Any earnings by anybody working for RTÉ should be capped at the top civil service rate,” she said.

“There's no excuse to pay anybody working for the public service broadcaster, whether they are presenting the Late Late Show, or working as an executive, to be paid any more than that.”

While she can see why the public’s trust in RTÉ would be shaken, Emma implores them to remember her colleagues who strive every day to fulfil their remit to the people of Ireland.

“I would appeal to people to trust the ordinary people in RTÉ who work so hard to honour the trust that has been placed in us by the public, something that we respect and value, and do not take for granted.”