Brendan O’Connor has stated that RTE listeners and viewers feel they were "made fools of" after the financial irregularities in RTE were uncovered.
The national broadcaster was plunged into chaos when it was revealed that presenter Ryan Tubridy’s earnings were publicly understated by €345,000.
Brendan spoke out on his RTE Radio 1 show on Saturday saying he thinks people feel foolish and angry and revealed his RTE salary is €245,000 - the same amount he received in 2021.
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"Obviously, a lot of people wanted to talk to me about this in the last week and we hear a lot that people are very angry. I think with a lot of people there's something slightly more subtle in a way than anger going on," Brendan said live on his RTÉ Radio 1 show.
"I think people feel foolish, I think a lot of people, like ordinary people out there, licence fee payers and so on, feel that they were made fools of by some people.
"I think that's a hard one for people and, of course that does give rise to anger as well, but I think it’s kind of a hurt as well. Being made to feel foolish is not a nice thing."
This comes as The Sunday Times reports RTE knew it had published false salary figures for Ryan Tubridy more than three years ago but failed to correct the public record.
This, the paper reports, helped to conceal the existence of secret payments to its top presenter.
RTE has repeatedly claimed that €345,000 in overpayments to Tubridy were identified only after a routine audit of the broadcaster’s accounts in March.
And, according to a Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll, 73 per cent of people believe the RTÉ executive board as a whole bears most blame for the secret payments scandal.
Only 7 per cent blamed Tubridy himself, and just 4 per cent citing his agent Noel Kelly.
Public anger at those responsible for the day-to-day running of RTÉ stands in stark contrast to the 12 per cent who singled out former director general Dee Forbes as bearing most of the blame.
A total of 89 per cent of those polled said they were not satisfied with the account offered by RTÉ executives at the two Oireachtas hearings.
Having heard evidence from RTE board members and executives last week, the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and the Oireachtas Media Committee are both planning to meet as soon as possible to further investigate financial mismanagement at RTE.
