Accumulated profits at the firm co-owned by RTÉ’s best-paid broadcaster, Joe Duffy, last year increased to €621,000.
New accounts for Duffy’s Claddaghgreen Ltd show that the company’s accumulated profits increased by €37,913 from €583,086 to €620,999 in the 12 months to the end of April 30th last.
The post tax profit of €37,913 is down sharply on the €62,645 post tax profit for the prior year.
Last year, the firm’s cash pile declined from €392,169 to €287,954 while money owed to the company by debtors rose sharply from €217,941 to €326,051.
Duffy sits on the board of the firm with his wife, June Meehan and the directors last year shared ‘remuneration and other benefits’ of €270,000.
The directors’ pay was at the same level as 2023.
Duffy - who celebrates his 70th birthday in January of next year -became RTÉ’s best paid presenter after the departure of Ryan Tubridy from RTÉ in summer 2023 arising from the fall-out from the RTÉ payments scandal.
The RTÉ 2023 annual report showed that Duffy was the best paid person at the broadcaster receiving €351,000 though as he is a paid contractor he doesn’t enjoy the pension benefits that staff members do.
The €351,000 is down sharply on the €404,988 in pay the Ballyfermot man received in 2018 from RTÉ.
In 2023, Duffy extended his contract with RTÉ 11 weeks before the payments scandal erupted and the agreement continues until this year.
Asked to comment on any negotiations concerning a contract extension, a spokeswoman for RTÉ said on Tuesday: “We don't comment on individual contracts.”
When the payments controversy first emerged in June 2023, Duffy told his Liveline listeners how much he was paid.
He said that “the figures that are on my contract are the exact figures I receive,” explaining that he is paid €351,000 a year.
That is broken down to a fee of €300,000 for his radio work and €51,000 for television.
Duffy said that said he had signed his current four-year contract in 2019 and in 2023 agreed to a two-year extension.
He said that the extended contract operated under the “exact same conditions, no changes and no increases”.
The most recent JNLR figures show that 314,000 listeners were tuning in every weekday to Liveline making it one of the most popular weekday non-news radio shows in the country.
Duffy also presents the interview programme, The Meaning of Life on RTÉ television and is a best selling author.
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, 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.
