A STATEMENT ISSUED by Ryan Tubridy on Wednesday was what ultimately led to the decision by RTE director general Kevin Bakhurst to terminate his contract negotiations yesterday.
Tubridy’s statement followed the publication of a Grant Thornton report that found he had “no involvement in the adjustments” that have led to the RTE payments scandal that has plagued the national broadcaster all summer.
The majority of the statement was relatively unremarkable, but one sentence seems to have provided the tipping point that led to Bakhurst’s decision not to bring the veteran presenter back to the airwaves.
In that fateful line, Tubridy maintained that his income from RTE in 2020 and 2021 matched the figure originally published by RTE. That sum did not include payment made to him through a barter account, which was not originally disclosed.
It is also clear that my actual income from RTÉ in 2020 and 2021 matches what was originally published as my earnings for those years and RTÉ has not yet published its top ten earner details for 2022.
Back in June when the scandal broke, Tubridy had apologised for not calling attention to the fact that his published earnings did not align with the money he actually received.
At the time he said:
“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.”
But this week’s statement seems to have been a step back from that apology, something that Bakhurst took to mean that Tubridy was not taking his fair share of the blame for the situation.
Speaking on Morning Ireland this morning, Bakhurst said:
“I feel there was an issue throughout about the need to accept your role in what has been a hugely damaging scandal for everybody involved, particularly for RTE, who need to take the vast majority of the blame, but there are others, including Ryan and his team, who should take some of the blame and take some responsibility.”
The contract negotiations which were in an advanced stage were terminated by the director general yesterday evening. Bakhurst said that Tubridy was “shocked and disappointed” by the decision.
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