BBC discloses highest-paid staffer following FOI ruling

Controller Anna Carragher was the BBC’s highest paid employee in Northern Ireland in 2005, the corporation has confirmed.

Carragher was paid between £100,000 and £131,000 as the senior editorial figure in Northern Ireland nearly three years ago, when a Freedom of Information request was made, the BBC disclosed.

The disclosure comes after the Information Commissioner ruled this week that the BBC should answer the FOI request, which asked for the identity of its highest-paid member of staff in Northern Ireland.

The Information Commissioner also ruled that the BBC could withhold another part of the same request which asked for the salaries of several specified high-profile presenters.

The disclosure comes after a debate in Northern Ireland regarding pay and expenses for MPs and members of the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Earlier this week, the DUP’s Gregory Campbell MP accused the BBC of “double standards” over issue because it has been tight-lipped about presenters’ salaries while criticising politicians’.