Leo Varadkar weighs in on the RTÉ gender dispute and pay gap
After RTÉ responded to speculation that there is a major gender pay gap in the national broadcasting service, now Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has weighed in on the controversy.
On Monday, The Sunday Independent revealed that Sharon Ní Bheoláin earns €60,000 – €80,000 less than her male co-anchor Bryan Dobson.
RTÉ have four weeks to reveal Gender Pay Gap, but should come clean now- @ivanabacik https://t.co/NmAq8EVlvn pic.twitter.com/H37DxY0AMz
— The Labour Party (@labour) July 24, 2017
"I believe that I am well remunerated, but, for the record, my pay is still considerably less than that of Bryan’s. I won’t be commenting further," she said at the time.
And now, Mr Varadkar's senior spokesman told the Irish Independent: "The Taoiseach welcomes RTÉ's decision to conduct a review into pay in the organisation.
"He believes strongly that there should be equal pay for equal work and equal experience.
Gender pay gap issue much wider than @rte. Hopefully debate will speed up passage of #ClosetheGap transparency legislation. #ClockedOut
— Neil Ward (@NeilPWard) July 24, 2017
"The Tánaiste [Frances Fitzgerald], on behalf of the Government, is currently developing proposals which would require employers to conduct a survey of pay levels within their organisation, building on the recently published Women and Girls Strategy," he added.
According to the publication, the most up-to-date figures available from RTÉ shows the average salary to be just below €60,000, but the vast majority of managers and presenters are expected to be on more than this.
