Joe duffy has defended his €416,893 RTE salary - saying he's had "better offers".
But the Liveline host says he stays with RTE because he believes in public service.
Joe's hefty salary is often in the headlines - especially in light of RTE's finance troubles.
"It's not for me to justify - it was negotiated on my behalf," said Joe, speaking to the RTE Guide.
"I've had better offers from the outside I can tell you. I'm well paid, I know that.
"But I do believe in public service and I really believe in Liveline and what we do."
The 63-year-old - who only got into broadcasting when he was in his thirties - said: "The reason RTE have given me a contract like this is they want to be able to get rid of me tomorrow if needs be - if they decide I'm not flavour of the month.
"I know if RTE drop me tomorrow, I'm gone; there wouldn't be any pickets on the gates.
"I'm not a firefighter, I'm not a nurse - we don't save lives. I think we enhance lives."
The dad of triplets also revealed how Gay Byrne gave him his start as a reporter, when he poached Joe from Pat Kenny, where he was working as a researcher.
He remains close to Gay who gave him the advice: "Chat like it's just you and me with the banter we have."
