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RTÉ pay scandal
Tubridy welcomes report and hopes to 're-establish confidence and trust of colleagues and listeners'
He said he welcomed the finding that he did not agree with how the broadcaster proposed to account for €120,000 in fees paid to him
RYAN TUBRIDY HAS welcomed the publication of a Grant Thornton report into the controversy surrounding his RTÉ salary, which found that he had “no involvement in the adjustments” made to his published earnings.
The fact-finding report confirmed that Tubridy’s salary was under-reported by €120,000 between 2017-2019.
It found that Tubridy himself and his agent “had no involvement in the adjustments made by RTE in 2020 to earnings published totalling €120,000 for 2017 to 2019″.
The former Late Late Show host said in a statement today: “I welcome the findings of the Grant Thornton Report, published today.
“I also welcome the report’s findings that I did not claim €120,000 in fees which was due to me in 2020 and that I did not agree with how RTE proposed to account for this decision.”
While the earnings were publicly understated, there was no impact on RTÉ’s financial statements as a result of these adjustments.
Tubridy’s statement continued: “It is also clear that my actual income from RTE in 2020 and 2021 matches what was originally published as my earnings for those years and RTE has not yet published its top ten earner details for 2022.
“I repeat my offer to publish the details of any future RTE contract.
“I am committed to re-establishing the confidence and trust of my colleagues and listeners, and I hope that any fair assessment of the findings of today’s report will help in this regard.
“Finally, I want to acknowledge the huge support that I have received in recent weeks from people across the country; many cards and letters, greetings on the street and words of support from people I bumped into meant an awful lot to me and I appreciate them all very much.”
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One today, the broadcaster’s chair Siún ní Raghallaigh said the issue of Tubridy’s future is one for the director general.
When asked about the potential reaction of staff if he returned to the airwaves, Ní Raghallaigh said it appears to her that staff are split “50/50″ on the issue.
Asked if Tubridy’s earnings were accounted for in such a way as to present his salary as under €500,000, she said: “I don’t see it as an unreasonable hypothesis.”
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