Accumulated profits at the media firm operated by one of Ireland’s best known broadcasters, Joe Duffy last year topped €483,000.
New accounts filed by the Liveline presenter’s Claddaghgreen Ltd show that accumulated profits at the company fell by a modest €3,441 to €483,470 in the 12 months to the end of June last.
The slight decrease in accumulated profits followed a €19,060 drop in accumulated profits in the 12 months to the end of April 2019.
Last year, the cash pile at Claddaghgreen decreased by €26,806 from €567,447 to €540,641.
Top earner
Duffy remains one of RTÉ’s best paid presenters. Figures released by RTÉ in January of this year show that Duffy remained the third-highest paid presenter at the broadcaster, with pay of €392,494 in 2019.
This represented a drop on the fees of €404,988 paid out in 2018.
In the pay figures, the Ballyfermot man trailed behind only Ryan Tubridy and Ray D’Arcy in RTÉ’s ‘Top 10’ earners.
The most recent JNLR figures show that listeners flocked to Liveline during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The figures show that the programme added 41,000 listeners year-on-year, bringing its audience up to 404,000 which is the show’s biggest listenership in some time.
There, listeners were served with a mix of searing testimony from callers impacted by the pandemic and lighter topics such as the portrayal of sex in Sally Rooney’s Normal People.
Mr Duffy is not a paid employee of RTE but is instead employed as a contractor.
In a press interview in May of last year, Duffy said: “Any spare money goes into the pensions in our household. I don't have a pension from RTE, I don't have sick pay and I don't have a safety net - and the pension is gone again.
“It disappeared 10 years ago with the crash and now with Covid-19. It was invariably invested in stocks and shares. It's not a worry in my life. The worry in life at the moment is people's health."
Each year, Liveline generates substantial advertising revenues for the State broadcaster but RTE doesn’t provide a breakdown of advertising revenues generated by each show.
Born in Dublin in 1956, Duffy joined RTÉ Radio as a producer in 1989. Since then, the father of triplets has worked his way through several shows, first as a reporter on The Gay Byrne Show and then as presenter of several programmes.
