Accumulated profits at the media firm employed by one of the country’s best known broadcasters Joe Duffy last year increased to just under €500,000.
That is according to new accounts for Duffy’s Claddaghgreen Ltd which show that the company’s cash pile decreased from €540,641 to €511,354 in the 12 months to the end of April last.
During the same period, the firm’s accumulated profits increased marginally from €483,470 to €496,793.
Mr Duffy - who celebrates his 66th birthday on Thursday (January 27th) -remains one of RTÉ’s best paid presenters and is also a best-selling author.
Figures released by RTÉ in January of last year show that Mr Duffy remained the third highest paid presenter at RTÉ 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 Ten’ earners.
Liveline
The most recent JNLR figures show that listeners flocked to Liveline in their droves during the Covid-19 pandemic.
The figures show that 346,000 listeners were tuning in every weekday to Liveline making it the fourth most listened to programme on radio in Ireland.
Mr Duffy is not a paid employee of RTÉ but is instead employed as a contractor.
In a press interview last August, Mr Duffy revealed that in 2016 he turned down an offer from rival independent station Newstalk “much greater” than his current salary at the State broadcaster.
Mr Duffy said he had received a “very significant offer from Newstalk”, and he and his wife, June, had several meetings with Newstalk and had met with its then owner, billionaire Denis O’Brien.
Mr Duffy said he had ultimately turned down an “absolutely incredible” offer because, he said, “I believe in RTÉ [and] I believe in public service”.
Contractor
Defending his salary in the interview, Mr Duffy said he is employed as a contractor, and as such he had negotiated his salary “fair and square”, adding that he knows that he is well-paid, but he never encounters “begrudgery” himself.
He said: “I just know from where my own family came from, I’m well-paid … [but when] I used to go up to Ballyfermot once a week, it was never once said to me.
He said: “In fact, people say ‘Fair play to you, why shouldn’t you? If other people are getting it at that level, why shouldn’t you?’
Mr Duffy also presents the interview programme, The Meaning of Life on RTÉ television.
Each year, Liveline generates substantial advertising revenues for the State broadcaster but RTÉ doesn’t provide a breakdown of advertising revenues generated by each show.
Born in Dublin in 1956, Mr 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.
