{"podcast":{"title":"The BelTel","slug":"the-beltel-5373912","podcast_index_feed_id":5373912,"rss_url":"https://feeds.acast.com/public/shows/65670352d7b5d40012be7324","website_url":"https://www.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/","image_url":"https://assets.pippa.io/shows/65670352d7b5d40012be7324/show-cover.jpg","author":"Belfast Telegraph Podcasts","episode_count":825,"summary":"The BelTel brings you some of Northern Ireland's top journalists, Allison Morris, Sam McBride and Suzanne Breen to name but a few, giving you the inside stories behind what is in the news. Presented by Ciarán Dunbar, the Bel Tel investigates, debates and informs every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","last_synced_at":"2026-07-22T06:18:36.697495+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-beltel-5373912"},"episode":{"title":"Sam McBride’s hunt for Stormont’s secret civil servant on a vast salary","slug":"sam-mcbride-s-hunt-for-stormont-s-secret-civil-servant-on-a-vast-salary","published_at":"2026-05-08T00:00:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-beltel-5373912/sam-mcbride-s-hunt-for-stormont-s-secret-civil-servant-on-a-vast-salary","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-beltel-5373912","url":"https://shows.acast.com/the-beltel/episodes/sam-mcbrides-hunt-for-stormonts-secret-civil-servant-on-a-va","audio_url":"https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/65670352d7b5d40012be7324/e/69fc83222ba0ef2cca6c2616/media.mp3","summary":"There is a very senior, well-paid civil servant, working in the higher echelons of the Northern Ireland Civil Service.  Only a handful of officials work at that level and with every one of these individuals we are entitled to know who they are, what they do and what they are paid – but not when it comes to one man. Or is it a woman? We don’t know.  The Belfast Telegraph’s Northern Ireland Editor Sam McBride has discovered a top-mandarin that we know nothing about - a secret civil servant.  The taxpayer is not allowed to know what they do, not allowed to know how much they are paid and not even allowed to know what their name is.   Sam McBride joins Ciarán Dunbar on the BelTel to explain this bizarre story.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.","meta_description":"There is a very senior, well-paid civil servant, working in the higher echelons of the Northern Ireland Civil Service. Only a handful of o…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":2235,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/the-beltel-5373912/episodes/sam-mcbride-s-hunt-for-stormont-s-secret-civil-servant-on-a-vast-salary/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/the-beltel-5373912/sam-mcbride-s-hunt-for-stormont-s-secret-civil-servant-on-a-vast-salary.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}