RTÉ now braced for more pay exposés after Ryan Tubridy saga

And last night it emerged the RTÉ board was told of the issue of payments to Ryan Tubridy “in the same week” as he announced his departure from The Late Late Show.

Tubridy has apologised to his colleagues in RTÉ after it emerged he got €345,000 more in payments than was publicly declared by the station.

In another dramatic day at the crisis-hit broadcaster, the suspension of RTÉ director-general Dee Forbes was belatedly announced.

But RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh has gone to ground and is refusing to answer questions on the saga.

She failed to mention the board had suspended Ms Forbes on Wednesday when she appeared on RTÉ on Thursday.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he was very concerned at the information emerging from RTÉ.

The national broadcaster is now braced for more exposés of payments to its top earners from several investigations now being launched.

RTÉ has asked a top accountancy firm to expand its probe into payments and two Oireachtas committees will grill bosses next week.

Board members are understood to be concerned about what will potentially emerge from these probes. The same sentiment was strongly expressed at a meeting of staff yesterday, with concerns being expressed about previous payments to Tubridy which have now emerged. Robert Shortt, the RTÉ staff representative on the board, told the meeting he was concerned about what might emerge from a second report by the accountants, Grant Thornton.

A review into payments found €75,000 was paid to the presenter in 2021 and 2022. But there are worries now about a subsequent lookback which found Tubridy’s pay had been understated by €120,000 during 2017 to 2019. Whether these payments were more widespread among the top stars at the station is now the focus of investigations.

Staff at RTÉ are “angry and dismayed” at the failure of management to address the concerns and the decision to refuse all media interviews address the very many questions that need answering.

National Union of Journalists (NUJ) members also demanded to know “who signed off on these secret payments and who knew about them”.

At the meeting, staff spoke of how “devastated, ashamed, betrayed and angered they are” at the revelations.

“We also want an end to what members see as a culture of secrecy surrounding pay, pensions and perks at the organisation,” the union said.

Tubridy sought to dispel rumours his bombshell departure from The Late Late Show was caused by the internal audit which discovered his hidden payments. “I also wish to respond to suggestions that this issue had some bearing on my decision to step down from hosting The Late Late Show. It did not,” he said.

But now it has emerged the RTÉ board was told by the internal auditors there was an issue in the same week as the announcement. Tubridy unexpectedly announced his departure on Thursday, March 16. In response to queries from the Irish Independent, the board said it was first alerted to the issues “later in the same week”. The following day was Friday, March 17, a bank holiday.

“The chair and the board of RTÉ had no knowledge of the payments to Ryan Tubridy [via his agent] from the barter account, or the understatement of payments to him, when he announced his departure from The Late Late Show on March 16, 2023.

“Later in the same week, members of the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) of the RTÉ board were contacted by the auditors to alert them about concerns they had about a number of issues. It was agreed the issues would be discussed at a meeting of the ARC on March 21.

I am disappointed that RTÉ has decided that for editorial reasons I should not broadcast my radio show next week

“The ARC was first briefed of the issues on March 21. On receipt of this information, the ARC promptly commissioned Grant Thornton to carry out an independent fact-finding review on the matter in question.

“The review was completed, and findings furnished to the ARC on Friday last and discussed on Monday of this week by the board of RTÉ. The board of RTÉ is committed to ensuring that there is appropriate accountability for what has occurred. That process is ongoing, mindful of individuals’ rights, and affording them due process,” a statement said.

The board said on Thursday it first heard of the payments issues “in late March during a routine audit”.

Having originally said he couldn’t shed any light on the controversy, Mr Tubridy sought to explain his position. In a second statement in 24 hours, the presenter admitted knowing the pay figures released by RTÉ were inaccurate but says he never questioned the broadcaster over this or sought to correct the record.

“While I have no responsibility for the corporate governance in RTÉ or how or what they publish in their accounts, when my earnings were published I should have asked questions at the time and sought answers as to the circumstances which resulted in incorrect figures being published.

“I didn’t, and I bear responsibility for my failure to do so. For this, I apologise unreservedly,” he said.

Tubridy expressed regret that RTÉ has decided not to let him present his radio show next week.

“I am disappointed that RTÉ has decided that for editorial reasons I should not broadcast my radio show next week. I look forward to returning to the radio show, a job I love, as soon as possible and I hope my listeners and my colleagues appreciate my sincerity on this,” he said.

“At the centre of all of this is trust. The trust of colleagues in RTÉ and the trust of a great many people who listen to my show. To them: I wholeheartedly apologise for my error of judgment.”

Tubridy went on to defend his pay and his willingness to take reductions while RTÉ was facing wider cutbacks.

“Separately, it has been reported that I did not take a pay cut over the last number of years,” he added.

“This is simply not true. Over the period of my contract with RTÉ, I have been asked to take several reductions in salary and I did. Indeed, between 2012 and today, my pay from RTÉ was cut by approximately 40pc.”

The political pressure for answers also mounted from Government and the opposition alike.

The Taoiseach said all matters at RTÉ need to be examined with possible “remedial steps” to restore “trust and confidence”.

“The Government considers it essential that we have the highest standards of governance, accountability and transparency from RTÉ and will consider what further action may be required,” he said.

Arts Minister Catherine Martin is due to talk with the RTÉ chair today and next week, the Oireachtas communications committee and the Dáil Public Accounts Committee are due to hold hearings. Earlier, it emerged Ms Forbes had been suspended from her job.

Additional reporting by Philip Ryan, Hugh O’Connell and Paul Hyland.