Veteran Irish broadcaster Henry Kelly has accused Gerry Ryan of playing a dangerous game by refusing to take a pay cut.

The 2fm DJ is the most high profile RTÉ star to refuse to take a reduction in his €558,000 a year salary in order to help the national broadcaster cut costs.

Ryan maintains he is worth every cent of his hefty pay packet, a claim which has incurred the wrath of Henry Kelly, who enjoyed a very successful career with the BBC.

Kelly (63) told the Sunday Tribune: "Is that Gerry Ryan the understated intellectual? The 21st century version of Walter Cronkite? I've been in and out of more jobs in radio broadcasting than Gerry Ryan and it's a dangerous game for people to think 'I am the radio station. This radio station wouldn't exist without me.' The fact of the matter is that it would. It's a very dangerous strategy as I saw him quoted in a newspaper a couple of weeks back saying 'I earn them [RTÉ] this amount of money so I am more to them than they are to me'. Ireland being a comparatively smaller market, a guy would be well advised not to say, 'Well, I'm worth X millions and I will go somewhere else.'"

However Kelly believes that Ryan has no alternative other than RTÉ and that no other Irish station would be able to pay the shock-jock anywhere near his current earnings.

"What would he do if somebody said tomorrow 'Actually, we have come to the end with you. Goodbye.' Where would he go? He would go to one of the other commercial radio stations ... Do you think that everyone would automatically switch off? They might switch off or turn over for about seven days and then RTÉ would find someone else to fill that exact slot.

"It's a dangerous occupation for broadcasters to think they are indispensable. If all the other presenters and features on 2fm were to stop tomorrow and it was just Gerry Ryan and his radio show, how many people would still turn on the radio? With his figures, his salary and the confidence RTÉ has in him, it all demonstrates he thinks he's the bee's knees but bees have more things than knees."

The popular UK broadcaster believes that it's unlikely any RTÉ stars could escape pay cuts by finding work in Britain from the BBC or ITV.

"I've been over in this country for the best part of 40 years and I kept hearing every now and then 'You had better watch out now. The new invasion of the Irish is coming. Mr X is coming over and that will put you in your place.' Why, they never came. Not one. Not a single person. I wouldn't say which broadcaster they were talking about because it would be grossly unfair to name names."

The former northern editor of The Irish Times, Kelly is one of the most successful Irish-born broadcasters ever on British TV and radio. Starting as a reporter on BBC Radio 4's The World Tonight, his career took on a Woganesque trajectory as game show host, celebrity and radio presenter.

At the height of his popularity, 17 million viewers tuned in to see him on ITV's Game For A Laugh while on radio, Kelly could pull an audience of 2.9m listeners to his breakfast show on Classic FM.

He remains a BBC Radio presenter as well as appearing regularly on Sky News.