THE CHAIR OF RTÉ’s board has confirmed that presenter Ryan Tubridy “won’t be on radio in the morning” following revelations about discrepancy in his reported and actual pay in recent years.
Siún Ní Raghallaigh would not, however, say if Ryan Tubridy would be back on the radio next week or in the future, as she said it was a matter for the broadcaster’s “executive”.
Ní Raghallaigh said on RTÉ News this evening that Tubridy’s departure from The Late Late Show had “nothing at all” to do with the substantial discrepancy.
Today it emerged that RTÉ has publicly underreported Tubridy’s earnings since 2017 by €345,000.
Ní Raghallaigh said she accepted that this scandal is a “betrayal of trust to the public” by the broadcaster.
“It is a betrayal of trust to the public and we want to apologise for that”
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) June 22, 2023
RTÉ Board Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh says the board “acted quickly” once they were alerted to what happened in relation to what Ryan Tubridy was paid | More: https://t.co/xswPnwrjk2 pic.twitter.com/EMBYtIMO7v
She added that the RTÉ board “did act quickly” once they were “alerted” to what what going on with Tubridy’s play.
€18,750 of the understated payments were made in the first three months of this year.
The discrepancy came to light following an internal review of the broadcaster’s contracts with its top ten earners, which was conducted by Grant Thornton.
The review found issues relating to a Barter Account, which deals with payments through an intermediary company.
Through this account, Tubridy was guaranteed an additional annual income of €75,000 which was to be paid by a commercial partner in exchange for a number of personal appearances.
The Journal understands that Renault is the partner in question.
However, Renault pulled out of the agreement eventually, and since RTÉ had underwritten the agreement, the broadcaster ended up paying money to Tubridy’s agent.
Ní Raghallaigh was asked on the 6 o’clock news who “signed off” on the Barter Account payments made to Tubridy.
She said that the “personalities” involved in the pay arrangements would not be disclosed while there is a Grant Thornton report ongoing and “in process”.
Ní Raghallaigh did say that those responsible would be held accountable, however.
“It’s shocking. Like, I can’t tell you how shocked we were about it. And and this is why we took it very seriously,” she said.
She also clarified that the account through which much of the money that was paid out that wasn’t accounted for was previously controlled by RTÉ’s commercial department.
“That wasn’t the correct way it should have been that has now changed, it is now under the control of the finance department,” she said.
On March 16th, Tubridy announced he’d be stepping down as host of The Late Late Show.
In a statement responding to the revelations, Tubridy today said: “Like many people, I’m surprised by the announcements made in RTÉ’s statement today regarding the errors in the reporting of its accounts.
“It is unfortunate that these errors are in relation to how RTÉ have reported payments made to me but I just want to be clear: this is a matter for RTÉ and I have no involvement in RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment or RTÉ’s public declarations in connection with such payments.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed to be at the centre of this story but unfortunately, I can’t shed any light on why RTÉ treated these payments in the way that they did nor can I answer for their mistakes in this regard.”
Tubridy’s agent NK Management has released its own statement following today’s revelations.
“We were made aware today of RTÉ’s statement concerning its accounting treatment and public declarations of payments made to Ryan Tubridy.
“These are matters for which RTÉ has sole responsibility and accountability.
“There is no issue whatsoever in relation to the payments being properly and lawfully due and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Ryan Tubridy or NK Management.
“These issues are solely concerned with RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment and public declarations in respect of such lawful payments.”
Politicians across parties have expressed shock and outrage over the debacle.
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