'It's just beggars belief' - partner of late Sean Rocks says she and children 'very disadvantaged financially' by way RTE paid him

Seán Rocks presented an arts and culture programme on RTÉ Radio One for 16 years and died at age 64 after a short illness. He worked at RTÉ for 25 years, becoming a permanent employee in 2019 after earlier fixed-term contracts. His partner, Catherine Bailey, said his pension provided no reflection of his years of service and that the pension pot did not compare to his salary. She said he missed payments because he was treated as a producer with a presenter allowance that was not pensionable. Bailey also said he was treated very differently from other presenters financially, and that HR responses gave a pension figure she considered out of line with his earnings.

"Rocks presented the arts and culture programme on RTÉ Radio One for 16 years before his unexpected death at the age of 64 after a short illness last year. He is survived by his partner Ms Bailey and their two young sons, Morgan and Christian. Speaking to RTÉ Radio One's Today with David McCullagh, Ms Bailey said Rocks' pension had "no reflection at all" on the years he had spent working at RTÉ."

"The presenter had worked in RTÉ for 25 years and was made a permanent employee in 2019. Prior to that, he was on many fixed-term contracts, and was regarded as a producer with a presenter allowance, which was not pensionable. "At that stage he'd missed out on lots and lots of payments," Ms Bailey told Today with David McCullagh. "The amount of the pension in his pension pot had no reflection at all on the years he had spent in service of RTÉ.""

""Seán is working in RTÉ since the year 2000, where he started in Lyric FM, and the pension doesn't remotely reflect that. There's no comparison between what he got in his salary and his pension," she added. Ms Bailey also said her late partner was treated "very, very differently to other presenters financially". "Slowly but surely, just taking over the reins in this very shocked, very grief-stricken state, between the utilities and whatnot, I got around to looking at the pension side of things and moved to HR," Ms Bailey said."

""And they got back to me in due course, quoting a number that seemed completely out of whack to Seán's earnings, and I had to question it naturally. "And I said: 'This is maybe an error'. Then, I was reassured rather coolly in a kind of clinical letter that no, this is it. "So the next port of call was to""

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