Questions are being raised about the amount of money paid to some of the biggest stars in RTÉ.

It has emerged that Ryan Tubridy was the highest paid presenter by the State broadcaster in 2011. He had total earnings of €723,000.

Pat Kenny came next on €630,000 and this was followed by Marian Finucane on €492,000, Joe Duffy on €378,000 and Miriam O'Callaghan on €307,000.

However most of the fees have been reduced since then.

In 2008 RTÉ paid €4.45 million to its 10 highest-paid presenters. But in 2013 that figure is expected to be in the region of €3 million.

Kate Shanahan is a lecturer in Media at DIT and a former RTÉ producer. She says the amount of money spent on fees using State money raises difficult questions for the broadcaster.

She says that she does not accept the argument that the talent will leave for the UK if they are not paid enough.