We need your help now
Support from readers like you keeps The Journal open.
You are visiting us because we have something you value. Independent, unbiased news that tells the truth. Advertising revenue goes some way to support our mission, but this year it has not been enough.
If you've seen value in our reporting, please contribute what you can, so we can continue to produce accurate and meaningful journalism. For everyone who needs it.
Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
By continuing, you are indicating that you accept our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy.
MORE THAN 3,000 people left the rebel enclave of Aleppo this morning, raising hope for many others still stranded, as Russia eased its objections to sending UN observers to oversee the evacuations.
A convoy of around 20 buses crossed the front line in the early morning headed for rebel-held territory elsewhere in northern Syria, after around 350 people got out during the night.
They were the first departures since Friday when the government suspended evacuations insisting that people also be allowed to leave two northwestern villages under rebel siege.
A medic said the latest evacuees were in a “terrible state” after their departure was delayed for hours in temperatures well below freezing, compounding their plight from months of siege and bombardment by the army.
The new evacuations from the devastated enclave came as a monitoring group said rebels had finally allowed convoys out of two villages they have besieged since spring last year.
Around 500 people left in a dawn convoy out of Fuaa and Kafraya, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitoring group, said.
Government demands for evacuations from the two Shiite-majority villages had put the whole process on hold for days, and on Sunday rebels attacked buses sent to bring people out, killing one of the drivers.
Around 350 people in five buses made it out of Aleppo during the night after Russia and Turkey urged the Syrian regime to allow a convoy of buses to pass its final control point, the Observatory said.
It was regime ally Moscow and rebel supporter Ankara that brokered a first evacuation deal last week to end a blistering month-long government assault on the one-time rebel bastion in east Aleppo.
‘Terrible state’
“Five buses carrying the evacuees arrived from besieged parts of east Aleppo,” said Ahmad al-Dbis, who heads a team of doctors and volunteers coordinating evacuations.
“They were in a terrible state,” Dbis told AFP.
“They hadn’t eaten, they had nothing to drink, the children had caught colds, they were not even able to go to the toilet.”
Dbis said he saw families wrapped in several layers of coats getting off the buses.
One young boy was biting into an apple while aid workers distributed packs of bottled water to his family.
Evacuations were suspended on Friday, a day after convoys of people had begun leaving the rebel sector under a deal allowing the regime to take full control of the battleground city.
The main obstacle to a resumption had been the dispute over how many people would be evacuated in parallel from the two Shiite villages.
A rebel representative said that hundreds of people would also be evacuated from Zabadani and Madaya, two rebel towns near the Lebanese border under siege by the army, as part of the deal.
Iran’s official news agency IRNA said the foreign ministers of Russia, Turkey and Iran would meet in Moscow on Tuesday to discuss the situation.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
RTE investigates RTE. What a challenge!
@Anne O’Hara: a I’d pay good money to hear jow Duffy justify the TV licence fee on lave-line
A lot of the major RTE over-paid have set themselves up as self-employed and setup so called agencies where they are the sole employee – all just to further skirt around tax paying levels. This is a well known trick by an elite. Its been going on for a long time.
…Not that RTE or the usual political parties are willing to do anything about it!
@Unitedpeople: not too sure what way RTE structure their contracts but certainly some of their ‘stars’ are supplying their services under company names such as ‘First Name Surname Media Services’ and so on. Presumably they invoice RTE for the work and then draw down a salary from their company. Will be interesting to see what comes of this.
@Sean @114: If they do this – they pay full PAYE, PRSI and USC on their salary. The saving primarily goes to RTE who don’t have to pay the Employer PRSI.
All salaries are subject to tax and social insurance regardless of whether you’re a proprietary director or not.
@Brinster: As they are a registered business as such, they gain extra tax refundable or deductible benefits, as technically they are creating employment – for themselves.
Not only do the chat shows not have to look beyond the staff canteen for subject matter, now current affairs can too! Seriously, RTE. We know you’re strapped for cash but how much would a Go Pro camera and a day ticket for Dublin Bus set you back?
*cough* Joe Duffy *cough*
About damn time. RTE ‘stars’ have been paying corporation tax on inflated salaries for years. You would think that they were already earning enough. Great if you are on big bucks not so good if you are a temporary employee.
Good scam while it lasted. Which I hope it doesn’t.
@Deano Cracow: I’m not sure corporation tax has much to do with things. You do no any salary drawn down is subject to the same income taxes we all pay right?
@Reg: If you’re self employed, you don’t get a salary.
@Father Hody Commody: you still paye paye on income
@ginger tomatoes i9: and usc, but slightly lower rate prsi, but get ni prsi entitlements. Employees lose out in this scenario, unless on higher contract rates ? Which suspect is the case, but even then no paid holidays, bank holidays or any benefits
@Reg: Reg. I generally agree with your comments but there is an old saying – ” The only place there isn’t a FIDDLE is in a Brass Band”.
So now our licence fee is used to pay RTE staff to investigate other RTE staff.
@Father Hody Commody: You don’t get to spend the company’s money unless you draw in down in the form of a salary.
If you use the money to pay for personal stuff (car, rent etc) then it is considered BIK and subject to full income tax, USC and PRSI. I
You clearly have no idea how this works.
So you don’t take a big salary RTE pays into the “company you take a modest salary for PAYE reckoning and laugh all the way to the bank with the rest
@marg fitzgerald: But how do you access the rest Marg? Dividends would be subject to more tax. That’s the point. The major beneficiaries of this are RTE – not the contractor.
@Brinster:
If that car is electric there is no charge from 2018…no 20% annual BIK charge, that is.
Very good news for Tesla and other El car manufacturers.
@Rory J Leonard: Yep – that’s true – introduced by the budget this year.
will probably benefit others over Tesla though. Tesla’s 2 current cars – Model T and Model S – both cost over €100k. So very expensive to buy/lease by the company to give to the employee.
Have to wait for a RHD version of the Model 3, priced at roughly €30k, that’s due early 2019.
@Brinster. You’re spot on – the real saving is to RTE on long term employee benefits and also – in these and recent times to avoid the cap on public service recruitment.
They have to applauded for this programme. You can be sure no-one working for REDACTED would get away with being critical of their company.
Not everyone in RTE is a big name star earning obscene salaries. Many are ordinary workers trying to earn a living yer RTE insists that in order to have work they must agree to sign theit rights and protections away.
In this neoliberal economy, not society, there are more attacks on ordinary workers and their rights sine the times of Jim Larkin. Zero hour contracts, minimum wage contracts, and no union recognition.
Look at the latest public transport debacle. Workers without any wage increase for 10 years are being vilified all over the media. The increases in the cost of living in those 10 years ignored. The fact that the CEO earns more than Leo and him and his staff have seen salary and bonusourt increases in those 10 years. Theit salaries are lumped in with the wages of ordinary workers to give a spin that workers are well paid and don’t deserve any increase, they’re only ordinary workers after all. To drive the publics ire against them the spin put about is disruption. We had the same with both Luas and DB workers.
Yet we see bankers getting clean away with wholesale theft of ordinary people’s money. Driving many into poverty, bad health and suicide. Even today we see yet another banker walk away from court, the case against him collapses. We know about others who got rich on the back of corrupt political practice, and are deemed untouchable, despite the evidence against them.
Ordinary people are considered to be no more than sheep to be hearded and driven for fleecing at the whim of their masters.
Enough is enough, the lessons of history have to be applied and soon.
@Dave Doyle: Very true that the reason this mechanism is prevalent is to enrich RTE through avoiding Employer PRSI, rather than enriching the employee.
For someone on €50k per year, there is usually about a 2% difference in take home, comparing Employee with Prop Director.
There’s a certain state body I applied for a job in last year that operates similarly, only offering self employed contracts. The state is setting an awful example.
If the ‘self employed’ workers are solely working for RTE then Revenue would class that as insurable employment. I would think that as a few years ago I was personally going to go self employed, coming off unemployment and my business plan was to work on a retainer for a number of businesses. I was told outright that this would be considered insurable employment and my business plan was rejected.
@Father Hody Commody: Self employment depends on much more than just whether you engage with one entity. Depends on whether you provide own tools/equipment, can choose own hours, can send a substitute and much more. The DSP has a 3 page questionnaire you submit for their review to decide whether employer/ employee or contractor relationship exists.
Not for a moment saying this wasn’t abused, but need more than just to have more than one engagement.
A house divided on itself cannot stand…..As the BBC would say…..
Was bosco self employed I wonder.
There is an old saying – ” The only place there isn’t a FIDDLE is in a Brass Band”.
So now our licence fee is used to pay High paid RTE staff to investigate other High paid RTE staff.
Bogus “self employment” is a prevalent practice, not justvwith RTÉ.
Most supposedly self employed contractors are employees in substance, if not in form.
The Revenue Commissionrrd have a very helpful policy guideline on this area.
@Fiona deFreyne: Was happening in commercial radio stations I worked in 20 years ago. Minimum wage, and file your own returns, no sick pay, no overtime and at that point I was working on one of the biggest radio shows in the country.
You can add Ryanair to that list.
** Grabs popcorn **
How would the rest of the media stand up to scrutiny of their employment practices
@Mick Foley: not well at all. But they’re not getting public money so can do as they wish (almost) Ten years working 0 hours and freelance contracts was a slog and half for me. The practices in the private sector are now replicated in RTÉ. It’s a cruel game, especially for regular staff – sound engineers, broadcast assistants, researchers etc. Well done to Drivetime for looking at this. I did find it strange listening to their piece last week on same while the person doing sound was likely on 0hours. Be interesting to watch how they address this issue in the midst of upcoming voluntary redundancies etc. RTÉ is a good place and hopefully seizes the opportunities to change that are on media landscape. Again fair play to PBH and DT. Important to do this.
Huge savings in employer PRSI that doesn’t have to be paid on ‘self employed contractors’. Good to see RTE thinking about how they spend taxpayer funds … by avoiding paying those taxes.
Nooooooooooooooook
This is no different than what every major IT company in this country does. A majority of large tech companies here in Ireland, the largest ones, do this every day and have done this for years. Only a small percentage of people there are actual employees, the rest are all ‘self employed contractors’ even though they show up and do the same job. Some of the ‘self-employed’ employees have been in these positions for over ten years.
This is occuring in other areas ,not just RTE.
@Thomas McMillan: That’s what the catholics say when you give them hassle for covering up paedophilia too. Doesn’t work for that or this.
A load of shite
Same thing happened to me in Athlone
Shit , don’t dig to deep lads!
Use precise geolocation data. Actively scan device characteristics for identification. Store and/or access information on a device. Personalised advertising and content, advertising and content measurement, audience research and services development.
These cookies are necessary for the website to function and cannot be switched off in our systems. They are usually only set in response to actions made by you which amount to a request for services, such as setting your privacy preferences, logging in or filling in forms. You can set your browser to block or alert you about these cookies, but some parts of the site will not then work.
These cookies may be set through our site by our advertising partners. They may be used by those companies to build a profile of your interests and show you relevant adverts on other sites. They do not store directly personal information, but are based on uniquely identifying your browser and internet device. If you do not allow these cookies, you will experience less targeted advertising.
These cookies enable the website to provide enhanced functionality and personalisation. They may be set by us or by third party providers whose services we have added to our pages. If you do not allow these cookies then these services may not function properly.
These cookies allow us to count visits and traffic sources so we can measure and improve the performance of our site. They help us to know which pages are the most and least popular and see how visitors move around the site. All information these cookies collect is aggregated and therefore anonymous. If you do not allow these cookies we will not be able to monitor our performance.
Cookies, device or similar online identifiers (e.g. login-based identifiers, randomly assigned identifiers, network based identifiers) together with other information (e.g. browser type and information, language, screen size, supported technologies etc.) can be stored or read on your device to recognise it each time it connects to an app or to a website, for one or several of the purposes presented here.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times an ad is presented to you).
Information about your activity on this service (such as forms you submit, content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (for example, information from your previous activity on this service and other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (that might include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present advertising that appears more relevant based on your possible interests by this and other entities.
Advertising presented to you on this service can be based on your advertising profiles, which can reflect your activity on this service or other websites or apps (like the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects.
Information about your activity on this service (for instance, forms you submit, non-advertising content you look at) can be stored and combined with other information about you (such as your previous activity on this service or other websites or apps) or similar users. This is then used to build or improve a profile about you (which might for example include possible interests and personal aspects). Your profile can be used (also later) to present content that appears more relevant based on your possible interests, such as by adapting the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find content that matches your interests.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on your content personalisation profiles, which can reflect your activity on this or other services (for instance, the forms you submit, content you look at), possible interests and personal aspects. This can for example be used to adapt the order in which content is shown to you, so that it is even easier for you to find (non-advertising) content that matches your interests.
Information regarding which advertising is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine how well an advert has worked for you or other users and whether the goals of the advertising were reached. For instance, whether you saw an ad, whether you clicked on it, whether it led you to buy a product or visit a website, etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of advertising campaigns.
Information regarding which content is presented to you and how you interact with it can be used to determine whether the (non-advertising) content e.g. reached its intended audience and matched your interests. For instance, whether you read an article, watch a video, listen to a podcast or look at a product description, how long you spent on this service and the web pages you visit etc. This is very helpful to understand the relevance of (non-advertising) content that is shown to you.
Reports can be generated based on the combination of data sets (like user profiles, statistics, market research, analytics data) regarding your interactions and those of other users with advertising or (non-advertising) content to identify common characteristics (for instance, to determine which target audiences are more receptive to an ad campaign or to certain contents).
Information about your activity on this service, such as your interaction with ads or content, can be very helpful to improve products and services and to build new products and services based on user interactions, the type of audience, etc. This specific purpose does not include the development or improvement of user profiles and identifiers.
Content presented to you on this service can be based on limited data, such as the website or app you are using, your non-precise location, your device type, or which content you are (or have been) interacting with (for example, to limit the number of times a video or an article is presented to you).
With your acceptance, your precise location (within a radius of less than 500 metres) may be used in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
With your acceptance, certain characteristics specific to your device might be requested and used to distinguish it from other devices (such as the installed fonts or plugins, the resolution of your screen) in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
Your data can be used to monitor for and prevent unusual and possibly fraudulent activity (for example, regarding advertising, ad clicks by bots), and ensure systems and processes work properly and securely. It can also be used to correct any problems you, the publisher or the advertiser may encounter in the delivery of content and ads and in your interaction with them.
Certain information (like an IP address or device capabilities) is used to ensure the technical compatibility of the content or advertising, and to facilitate the transmission of the content or ad to your device.
Information about your activity on this service may be matched and combined with other information relating to you and originating from various sources (for instance your activity on a separate online service, your use of a loyalty card in-store, or your answers to a survey), in support of the purposes explained in this notice.
In support of the purposes explained in this notice, your device might be considered as likely linked to other devices that belong to you or your household (for instance because you are logged in to the same service on both your phone and your computer, or because you may use the same Internet connection on both devices).
Your device might be distinguished from other devices based on information it automatically sends when accessing the Internet (for instance, the IP address of your Internet connection or the type of browser you are using) in support of the purposes exposed in this notice.
The choices you make regarding the purposes and entities listed in this notice are saved and made available to those entities in the form of digital signals (such as a string of characters). This is necessary in order to enable both this service and those entities to respect such choices.
have your say