Presenter Claire Byrne, who had been absent on Thursday and Friday of last week, has resumed her role this morning on RTÉ Radio One. 

At the top of her show this morning, Byrne said that he had already booked off Thursday and Friday last week ahead of the scandal emerging. She further noted that her management, Noel Kelly and NK Communications, had most recently negotiated a salary of €280,000 for her since stepping down from her television programme last year. 

Byrne was joined by TD Brian Stanley, Chair of the Public Accounts Committee, who said that as long as her health permits, Dee Forbes should still attend the Oireachtas committee hearing on Thursday.

“I would expect if she is medically fit to attend on Thursday, I would expect her to come,” Stanley said.

While speaking on Today with Claire Byrne, Irish Independent journalist Fionnán Sheehan called on RTÉ to publish the contract details of new Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty.

“He think it’s a laughing matter,” Sheehan said of Kielty, who had made a quip regarding the scandal while speaking with boxer Carl Frampton at an event in Belfast.

Kielty opted not to get into the weeds of the scandal over the weekend, saying instead: “I might need a couple extra beers in me before I start that.”

Leo Varadkar has said he does have confidence in RTÉ as an organisation, but has called for individuals to take responsibility for the payments scandal. 

“I’m very disappointed by what we’ve learned about payments at RTÉ,” Varadkar said, speaking today at Dublin Castle. Varadkar said the government review of RTÉ would “take a few months” but that “we’d rather do it right than do it quickly.” 

Varadkar also confirmed that the government would suspend its work on the reform of the TV Licence. He did, however, praise the work of RTÉ in terms of its broadcasting on the Irish language, sports, children’s programmes, drama, and good quality news, warning against “throwing the baby out with the bathwater”.

On the matter of Dee Forbes, Varadkar said: “I read this morning that Dee Forbes has resigned as DG of RTÉ. I still think, though, that she should come before the Oireachtas Committee. She released a very strong statement and I think people would like to hear her side of the story and her version of events.”

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RTÉ’s Education Correspondent Emma O’Kelly has defended the rank-and-file employees at RTÉ in the wake of the payments scandal.

“We have been paying for this terrible culture of big salaries, we’ve been paying for that culture, our output has suffered, zero-hours contracts,” O’Kelly said, calling the situation a “shambles”.

“We care very deeply, we would appeal to the public, we would appeal to the government, not to make us pay for this.”

Former Communications Minister Denis Naughten has called on RTÉ to “publish as much information as possible” relating to their barter accounts.

Naughten said he “gave inaccurate information to Cabinet and secured public funding” based on inaccurate information given to him by RTÉ. “I wasn’t aware of this mechanism, this barter account, or how it operated,” he said.

“We need answers now, not seven months down the road.”

The RTÉ NUJ Broadcasting Branch has this morning published a list of answers it would like to see from RTÉ in the wake of the scandal. 

“1. Who knew about the payments made to Ryan Tubridy between 2017 and 2019? Dee Forbes says she did not know about these payments. We need full information about these payments. We need to know when they were sanctioned and by whom. We also need to know were similar payments made in the years prior to 2017.

“2. Who signed off on all additional payments to Ryan Tubridy, who agreed to them, who agreed to deliberately conceal them?

“3. We want the “numerous internal communications” around these matters published as a matter of urgency.

“4. Staff want Dee Forbes to appear before both Oireachtas committees. If she “cares deeply” about RTÉ  as she asserts then she should do so.”

The union went on to say: “We strongly believe that reform of funding for RTÉ should not be halted by this scandal – which is not of our staff’s making. The NUJ advocates for the abolition of the television licence fee in it’s current form.

“The NUJ calls for a windfall tax of 6% to be placed on big tech companies in order to fund responsible public service broadcasting.”

Vice Chair of the Public Accounts Committee and Soc Dems TD Catherine Murphy has added her voice to the growing number of officials who are calling for Dee Forbes to appear before Oireachtas Committees this week.

In a statement issued this morning, Murphy said: “Clearly, as the person who led this process, and was leading the organisation at the time, Ms Forbes is best place [sic] to answer questions at the Committee. 
 
“Ms Forbes has also intimated that the negotiations, now the subject of public controversy, were a protracted process and that multiple departments within RTÉ were involved.  
 
“Clearly, there are those within RTÉ who have, or should have, all the relevant details about this process – and those individuals should also be at the PAC to answer questions on Thursday.
  
“Some of those questions will be – how did RTÉ save money on this deal when any saving in 2020 was offset by a credit note issued to the commercial partner; why are we still in the dark about how Mr Tubridy received an additional €120,000 between 2017 and 2019; why does a State-funded public service broadcaster need such byzantine financial arrangements to pay salaries; and why was incorrect information about Mr Tubridy’s salary put into the public domain? “

To recap: Here is Claire Byrne’s statement, which she read on-air at the top of her RTÉ Radio One programme this morning.

“Just like everyone else, I’ve been grappling over the last few days with what has happened and the implications are that for all of us here in RTÉ, and for you, who rely on us and expect us to be completely transparent.

“I listened to Liveline on Friday, and I listened to the callers who spoke to Joe [Duffy] and I heard them talking about being disappointed about trust being broken and the importance of transparency,” she said.

“And for me, and for all the great people that I work with here every day on this show hearing that is nothing short of heartbreaking.

“Because I can tell you that as program makers, our aim is always to be consistent, to be fair, to be professional, and to respect the hard air and trust that you the audience has placed in us.”  

Byrne said her most recently published annual salary of €350,000 is “correct, as are those published in the past” and that her salary at present is €280,000 due to her stepping away from her Monday night television show. 

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The Irish Congress of Trade Unions has expressed “grave concern” over the situation in a statement, calling on the RTE board to make “the restoration of public trust a key priority”.

“Public service broadcasting is vital to the functioning of a healthy democracy,” said general secretary Owen Reidy.

“The events of the past week threaten to undermine trust and confidence in RTÉ and to undermine the outstanding work of staff within the organisation over decades of committed public service.”

He said that ICTU “stands firmly with the RTÉ Trade Union Group and shares the frustration of workers who have been prepared to take pay cuts in the recent past to secure the future of RTÉ at a time when management was doing side deals with a third party.”

Reidy said the ICTU welcomed the announcement of an external inquiry and expressed concern “at the implication that reform of public service broadcasting, which is already overdue, would be delayed pending the proposed RTÉ review.”

“It would be ill-advised to halt reform because of corporate governance issues in one area,” the statement said. 

The RTÉ board has released a statement saying that it is “acutely aware” that the issues around Tubridy’s undisclosed payments had “raised profound questions”. The board said it will issue a “comprehensive” statement tomorrow afternoon. 

“We are very mindful of the need to provide clarity as soon as possible, and we are committed to doing so,” the statement read.

“Tomorrow afternoon, RTÉ will issue a comprehensive statement setting out its understanding of the circumstances surrounding the misstating of Ryan Tubridy’s earnings across the 2020-2022 period.”

The statement said that RTE would also publish “as much as possible of the Grant Thornton review, which was commissioned by the Audit and Risk Committee of the RTÉ Board”. 

It also stated that as Grant Thornton  is reviewing the circumstances surrounding the misstatement of Tubridy’s earnings between 2017 and 2019, tomorrow’s statement will not cover that period. 

Joe Duffy has revealed his own salary while speaking on Liveline this afternoon, confirming that he earns €300,000 for his radio work, and €51,000 for television work, including The Meaning of Life, and previously Children of The Troubles. 

Duffy has noted that the “exact figures on [my] contract are the exact figures [I] receive.”

According to the most recent list of top earners published by RTÉ, Duffy is the second-highest earner at the national broadcaster after Ryan Tubridy.

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People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has issued a statement calling for pay caps for RTÉ presenters, and describing the latest news as “a kick in the teeth” for the public and RTÉ employees.

“Reports of these apparent sweetheart deals and top ups by RTÉ are a kick in the teeth for the public and the company’s own workers- the vast majority of whom are not in receipt of these exorbitant salaries.

“Very serious questions need to be asked of RTÉ senior management and its board. A lot of ordinary workers and journalists in RTÉ have taken serious cuts over the last number of years and many have been on precarious contracts.

“It is quite scandalous that, on the one hand, staggering salaries and, in this case, a secret top-up payment can be paid to a certain few whilst the majority of workers in RTÉ have taken cuts.”

“People Before Profit believe that there should be pay caps on the highest salaries in RTÉ.

A stark update: The Journal has learned that the RTÉ summer staff barbecue has been cancelled following consultation with the NUJ.

Fine Gael TD Colm Burke is the latest to call for RTÉ to publish the salary of incoming Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty.

Burke, who serves on the Public Accounts Committee that will grill RTÉ execs on Thursday, issued a statement this evening, saying: “RTÉ must outline in full the pay deal set with the incoming Late Late Show host, Patrick Kielty.”

“It is a call that might not be well received by some of the senior management at RTÉ, but they brought this fully on themselves,” said the Cork North Central TD.

“They have nobody to blame for this mess other than their own decisions and inaction in failing to provide a clear account of the financial practices that took place at the broadcaster.

“Everything is on the table this week and that includes the pay deal struck this year with Mr Kielty. Taxpayers deserve the full truth.”

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Two major updates.

First: The NUJ branch representing RTÉ employees has called a lunchtime protest tomorrow, with supporters encouraged to attend and bring placards. 

Second: Miriam O’Callaghan is the latest RTÉ star to publicly clarify her salary in a statement on Twitter. O’Callaghan says her “most recently published fee – €263,500 – is correct, as are the fees published for previous years.”

O’Callaghan also noted that Prime Time would continue to cover the story “as rigorously as [we] cover every other story.”

The statement calling for a protest by RTÉ employees is reprinted in full below: “The NUJ are acutely aware of the ongoing anger of members and also of the powerlessness that many members are feeling.

“In response to requests from members the NUJ are calling a lunchtime protest for 1pm tomorrow at the plaza in RTÉ Donnybrook.

“This will be an opportunity for NUJ members to stand together and express in unity their anger and the urgent need for answers as soon as possible, for the public and for staff.”

On that dramatic note, we’ll be shutting down the liveblog for the time being. Thanks for sticking with us throughout the day. 

The Journal will continue to report all of the breakout stories regarding the RTÉ payment scandal, including a report on what to expect from the upcoming Public Accounts Committee later this week.