Paul Doyle
Jul 25, 2017 · 2 min read

“Ireland is unable to stand on it’s own two feet…”

RTÉ, Ireland’s state broadcaster, has got itself into a tizzyover gender pay and the salaries of its ‘stars’… just hours after the BBC were forced by its license fee service charter to publish the earnings of those in the organisation being paid over £150,000.

Aside from whether the argument is a valid one or not, why was it only rolled out after its British equivalent was flung into a debate on the topic?

It is a reminder again that ireland cannot stand on its own two feet. It is so culturally twinned (not identical!) that if the UK sneezes, the island of Ireland catches a flu.

The UK Government decision to make it conditional on the next five years of the BBC’s charter of service was met with the Irish communications minister, Denis Naughton, looking to score populist politcal brownie points by calling for RTÉ stars earning over €100,000 to be listed – despite the Irish government having no remit whatsoever nor powers to enforce.

Maybe RTÉ should have this debate. But why, once again, is it done so because our bigger neighbour organically did the same. The process is not new. Often, articles containing studies or opinion pieces that run in the Guardian, Telegraph or London Times are ‘Oirish-ised’ days later quoting dubious stats to stand up whatever contention is being made.

Why does it happen?

Perhaps it’s just the product of lazy journalism. The inability to have the confidence to start a story but only look for an angle on ideas that have already held muster.

Or maybe it’s just the silly season! The media perennial in summer is usually a debate over the placement of the Angelus at 6pm on national state television. Wages and Gender disparity is respite from that at least.

Either way, it is cringeworthy, regardless of the merit of the discussion, that our own Irish media wouldn’t look to explore the voracity and inequality of pay until they follow the (UK) leader! In fact, it is doing a disservice to the arguments for a review by only basing it in the shadows of a wider discussion in a close, but foreign, neighbour country.

Paul Doyle

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Broadcast Producer/Director and Media Consultant/Trainer. Based in London and Dublin