Exclusive: Frank McNamara worked with Gay Byrne for over 20 years
Former Late Late Show musical director Frank McNamara has told how the late Gay Byrne "used to keep the wages down" at RTE - because he thought it was "immoral" for presenters to earn big money.
He said Mr Byrne - who earned €201,888 on retainer from RTE - didn't earn much at the beginning when he first started out. Speaking exclusively to The Irish Mirror, Mr McNamara told us: “It is not a matter of public interest what anyone gets for an ad. “But the there is an issue – and this is why it wasn’t allowed before – the issue is that if you weren’t working for RTE, if you didn’t have a radio broadcast every day or if you didn’t have or a big show on television, nobody would be asking you to do an ad.
“But it isn’t like that. It takes talent. It takes something very, very special to be able to do the kind of thing Patrick Kielty does or whoever. There are loads more people who can do what Kevin Bakhurst does than what Paddy Kielty does. That’s supply and demand.
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