LAST UPDATE | 23 Jun 2023
NATIONAL UNION OF Journalists members at RTÉ have called on the broadcaster’s executive board to make themselves available to address questions regarding the growing Ryan Tubridy payment scandal.
This comes after it was revealed that its highest paid star Ryan Tubridy earned €345,000 more over the course of over six years than RTÉ had previously disclosed.
NUJ members at RTÉ held an emergency meeting today to discuss the revelations.
A motion was unanimously adopted, and calls for the following:
RTÉ’s interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch has said an internal review has been carried out to confirm that the rest of the broadcasters top-paid presenters are not in the same position as Tubridy.
Speaking on the Six One News, Lynch said Grant Thornton will now “come in and quickly validate whether that is the case and confirm it and then we will share that through the board”.
He said: “This is a corporate governance issue of significant proportions. And RTÉ staff are outraged by this.
Dublin Broadcasting Branch and RTÉ’s Education Correspondent, Emma O’Kelly said in a statement that today’s NUJ meeting was the largest held in recent memory at the broadcaster. Members spoke of how devastated, ashamed, betrayed and angered they are, a statement said.
“Our members have worked extremely hard to earn and maintain the trust of the Irish public. That trust is something we value and respect hugely,” O’Kelly said in the statement.
“They are devastated to see the hard-earned goodwill of the public undermined as a result of this scandal,” O’Kelly said.
“We will continue to do our jobs to the best of our ability, and that includes holding RTÉ to the same standards that the public expects of any publicly funded body. We demand that our viewers and listeners are treated with respect, and we want that respect extended also to staff at RTÉ.’’
Tubridy issued a statement this evening and said he should have asked questions about a discrepancy in his salary and the figure that the broadcaster said he was being paid.
He said: “RTÉ’s accounting treatment and publication of payments to me between 2017 and 2022 contained serious errors.
“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 unreservedly apologise.”
The RTÉ Board earlier confirmed that its Director General Dee Forbes was suspended from her employment this week on Wednesday, 21 June.
Forbes was due to step down from her position on 10 July, to be replaced by new Director General Kevin Bakhurst, but in a statement this morning the RTÉ board has confirmed she has now been suspended.
The statement read:
The RTÉ Board confirms that Dee Forbes, the Director General was suspended from her employment on Wednesday 21 June 2023. There are processes on-going and RTÉ must be mindful of its legal responsibilities and the rights of individuals. RTÉ will not be commenting further on this issue at this time.
Bakhurst – a former executive in RTÉ who has also worked in UK media organisations including the BBC and broadcasting watchdog Ofcom – was appointed to take over from Forbes following a recruitment process earlier this year, and was announced as her successor in April.
In a statement this evening, Forbes said she has been “fully engaged with the Board since this matter arose in the course of the audit of the accounts”.
“When asked in April 2023, I participated in the review conducted by Grant Thornton to determine the full circumstances and facts surrounding two specific payments to fulfil a contractual obligation for the years 2021 and 2022,” Forbes said.
“Yesterday was an extremely difficult day for all of us who care so deeply about the organisation and the impact of these issues is a matter of profound regret,” she said.
“I am proud of my contribution to RTÉ over the past seven years. Throughout my tenure as Director General, I have always prioritised what I believe are the best interests of the organisation, in order to best serve the public. This includes pursuing a difficult cost cutting agenda as part of implementing a wider strategic agenda, all while navigating the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic.”
Tubridy’s annual earnings published by RTÉ between the years 2017-2022 ranged from €440,000-€491,667 but a review carried out by Grant Thornton has found that his annual earnings from RTÉ in those years actually ranged from €511,667-€545,000.
Despite Forbes being suspended from the role, the Dáil Public Accounts Committee (PAC) is still seeking to have her and the senior executive team of RTÉ in front of the committee to answer questions next Thursday.
Committee chair Brian Stanley has said he will be writing to RTÉ this afternoon.
Speaking to The Journal, Stanley said Forbes came into the PAC and did not present true figures relating to the salaries.
“I expect to see her next Thursday. Simple,” he said, adding that there can be no excuses.
He said Forbes is still the Director General until 11 July, as far as he is concerned, and she must come before the committee, with her executive team, to explain how this happened.
Stanley said he did not care if Forbes was on holiday and expects her to be present next week and be accountable to the public.
“We were told yesterday that Ms Forbes was on annual leave. Today we have been told that she is suspended.
“There is a serious credibility issue here. There is an onus and an obligation on Ms Forbes to attend and I expect her to be there.
The PAC has been misled by RTÉ representatives, including Ms Forbes. What has occurred is a betrayal of trust and we are demanding a full explanation from those directly involved.
He added that he would be happy to hold the meeting “day or night” and on any day to facilitate Forbes appearing.
Speaking to reporters this afternoon, Minister for Culture and Media Catherine Martin said she wants to be told by RTÉ what actions will be taken and processes put in place to ensure this type of discrepancy is not repeated.
“I do believe it raises concerns in relation to broader transparency and governance of this organisation,” she said.
“Public service broadcasting is so, so important to society and to democracy and there’s no doubt that damage has been done here and that the trust has been damaged with the public.
“There is a lot of damage that has been done with staff as well and that is something that the board needs to work on, rebuilding the trust.”
The minister was planning meet with the Chair of the RTÉ Board on Monday, but it’s understood the meeting is to take place tomorrow instead.
Earlier, Emma O’Kelly told RTÉ’s News at One that many of her colleagues “have lost any trust they might have had in RTÉ’s top brass”.
“We want to know who sanctioned this payment, who signed off on it, who knew about this payment, and we want accountability,” she said.
“This has nothing to do with the Siptu members that I work with. I’m talking about the journalists, the low-paid researchers who work on programmes like The Late Late to make people like Ryan Tubridy look good because they are slugging away behind the scenes on low pay.”
Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee, has said that the suspension of Forbes will not make the issue of hidden payments go away.
Munster said that RTÉ bosses must be held accountable and that Forbes must make herself available before PAC.
“The suspension of Dee Forbes will not make this scandal go away,” Munster said.
“The revelations of undisclosed payments of €345,000 to a senior presenter are an absolute disgrace and RTÉ bosses responsible must be held accountable.
While Ms Forbes has been suspended, she remains an RTÉ employee until next month and must make herself available to appear before the Public Accounts Committee.
“The revelations of hidden and undisclosed payments are just yet another example of deplorable levels of transparency and a questionable culture that has dominated our national broadcaster for far too long.”
Trade union Siptu has called for rapid action from RTÉ, lamenting the “massive breach of trust”.
In a statement this afternoon, Siptu Organiser Martin Mannon described the incident as an “example of dual standards” at RTÉ.
“This is immensely damaging and station management should not underestimate the degree of anger among our members. They are committed to the ideals of public service broadcasting of transparency, truth telling and accountability,” he said.
“The only way that there can be any start to rebuilding the essential trust that we must have in the public service broadcaster is that due process is followed in a swift and transparent manner to resolve this crisis.
“This must result in those responsible for this situation being held fully accountable for their financial mismanagement, lack of truthfulness and damage perpetrated on one of our essential public institutions.”
Additional reporting by Lauren Boland, Hayley Halpin, Jamie McCarron and Christina Finn
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