For a decade after the financial crash, the figure of €500,000 loomed large in Irish consciousness and bankers’ payslips. Half a million euro became the limbo pole under which bankers’ salaries had to shimmy. It could not be breached, and it made that specific sum a political issue. Outside of corner offices, the figure appears to have been a consistent fixation on RTÉ’s Montrose campus too. From 2017 onwards, the earnings RTÉ published for its most highly paid individual, Ryan Tubridy, purported to show that his payments from the public broadcaster remained under €500,000 a year. The machinations for the…

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