Almost one in four 'nixers' taken on by RTÉ staff members in the first half of the year was for a payment of more than €1,000.
As of February, RTÉ staff members looking to do external gigs - whether paid or otherwise - must apply for permission through the register of external activities.
This was introduced in the name of increased transparency after the secret payments scandal to former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy erupted last year.
RTÉ describes external activities as 'typically "once-off" activities, such as MC an event, launching an event or product, speaking at a conference, etc'.
According to a summary of the register released by RTÉ, almost a quarter of the side gigs it approved were for payments of at least €1,000. During the five months, February to June, RTÉ approved 239 side jobs undertaken by staff members outside of their work for the national broadcaster.
An Irish Mail on Sunday analysis of the available data indicates that 45 - around 19% - were for payment of between €1,001 and €5,000. And a further eight - or around 3.5% - were for amounts between €5,001 and €10,000. Another job - which RTÉ is refusing to provide any details of - earned the taker more than €10,000. In total, just under one in four (23%) of the 'nixers' were for a payment greater than €1,000.
And around one in 25 (just under 4%) were for payments of more than €5,000. Another quarter of the 239 gigs earned payments of less than €1,000, while half were taken on for no payment whatsoever.
In the second quarter, the number of external activities approved per month almost halved compared to the first two months of the register. For February and March, an average of 66.5 activities were approved in each month. For April, May and June, that number had fallen to an average of 35.3 per month.
When asked for comment, an RTÉ spokesman said: 'The introduction of registers in RTÉ (for external activities, interests and gifts) is part of RTÉ's commitment to greater transparency.
'The purpose of the register of external activities, which is published quarterly (summary details) is not to discourage staff or contractors from agreeing to external activities or engagements, which they have a right to do, or to reduce them.
'Rather, the main purpose is to ensure that such activities and engagements are approved, where necessary and that they do not adversely impact RTÉ's editorial integrity.'
In a summary report of its new Register of External Activities published in August, RTÉ indirectly revealed that someone in the organisation earned €10,000 or more for a side job undertaken this year.
However, the national broadcaster has refused to state what the lucrative external activity was, or who received the payment, citing Data Protection Commission advice that primary legislation was required.
Last week RTÉ admitted that it did not press release the second quarter report on external activities - and they refused to clarify if any of the highest paid members of their senior management team received more than €10,000 for a nixer in February or March of this year.
The MoS previously reported that RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst had confirmed he was not the beneficiary of the €10,000-plus 'nixer' gig, following on similar confirmations from RTÉ presenter Claire Byrne and Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty.
In recent weeks, RTÉ presenter Claire Byrne, following a story on this issue in this newspaper, posted on social media that she was not paid for any outside gigs.
'I've done a couple of charity events over the last 18 months. I did an event in the Gaiety Theatre last month - there's a picture of that in this piece... I did not get paid for any of those. That is my choice. It's within the rules if people want to do that, there's no issue with it, but I have decided not to.'
Patrick Kielty also confirmed to this newspaper that he did not do the €10,000-plus outside job, saying: 'It's not me anyway. As I understand it, the register of external activities is part of a transparency drive within RTÉ.'
