LAST UPDATE | 27 Jun 2023
RTÉ HAS SAID that “no member” of its executive board other than former Director General Dee Forbes would have been aware that the “publicly declared figures for Ryan Tubridy could have been wrong”.
In a nine-page statement released this evening by the Interim Deputy Director-General Adrian Lynch, the broadcaster has attempted to explain the timeline leading to its underreporting of payments worth €345,000 to Late Late Show presenter Tubridy.
“No member of the RTÉ Executive Board, other than the Director General, had all the necessary information in order to understand that the publicly declared figures for Ryan Tubridy could have been wrong.”
However, the statement added that Forbes has not had the opportunity to respond to the details set out in its statement and may “therefore challenge or disagree with our understanding and position”.
Lynch’s statement said that external legal advice has been received that arising from the findings of a review by accountants Grant Thornton, that there was “no illegality and payments were made pursuant to an agreed contract” by the parties involved.
It added that the Grant Thornton review “makes no finding of wrongdoing” on the part of Tubridy in relation to any payments made by RTÉ.
“Ryan Tubridy was not aware of the credit note provided by RTÉ to the commercial partner,” the statement said.
Lynch also stated this evening:
“The former RTÉ Chief Financial Officer left RTÉ at the end of March 2020. Beyond that date the former RTÉ Chief Financial Officer had no further involvement in any of these arrangements.”
The fallout to the scandal continued elsewhere throughout the day.
It was confirmed that Forbes herself will not be attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Media Committee due to health reasons.
Culture Minister Catherine Martin confirmed an external review of RTÉ’s culture and governance which she hopes to secure Government approval for this week.
TDs and senators are preparing to question RTÉ management on the underreporting of payments at separate Oireachtas committees this week.
Earlier, RTÉ staff gathered for a protest to voice their frustration with management in the wake of the controversy over the payments.
Here’s how the day unfolded on The Journal’s liveblog on the controversy.
Good morning.
Five days after RTÉ revealed that it publicly understated Ryan Tubridy’s earnings by €345,000 since 2017, many questions are still circling about how the discrepancy came to be and how the broadcaster plans to move forward.
The RTÉ Board has said it will publish “as much as possible” of the external review into the undisclosed payments that was carried out by Grant Thornton, but that payments made from 2017-2019 are still being reviewed by the advisory company and so will not be included.
It said a “comprehensive” statement will be issued this afternoon “setting out its understanding of the circumstances” around payments made to Tubridy in the 2020-2022 period.
This afternoon will also see some RTÉ staff protest at 1pm.
The branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) representing RTÉ employees called the protest, encouraging supporters to attend and bring placards.
In a statement, the union said it is “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,” the union said.
“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.”
Our reporter Jane Moore has taken a detailed look at at what we do and don’t know about how this situation came to be.
Who knew about the payments made to Ryan Tubridy, and who approved them? Why did RTÉ underwrite the agreement between Ryan Tubridy and Renault? Why did RTÉ pay €80,000 to use the barter account to pay Ryan Tubridy? What happens next?
Click here to read the full article exploring the questions that RTÉ is facing.
Hello! Jane Moore here. I’ll be bringing you the latest updates on the RTÉ controversy for the rest of the morning.
Cabinet is currently meeting, where, it has been reported, Media Minister Catherine Martin will update colleagues on plans for an independent external review of governance and culture at RTÉ.
Martin announced the review last Sunday following a meeting with the RTÉ board.
Speaking then, she said the purpose of the review will be “to determine what fundamental or systemic issues need to be addressed, including the adequacy of internal controls”.
“While as Minister I cannot get involved in the day to day operation of RTÉ, I do need assurance that the governance and culture is fit for purpose.”
“Public trust in RTÉ must be rebuilt,” she said.
End ‘drip feed of information’ and ‘come clean’
The Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris has called on RTÉ to “end the drip feed” of information and reveal who knew what about the undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy.
RTÉ News is reporting that, on his way into Cabinet this morning, Harris told reporters that it is “really important” that RTÉ management “come clean”.
“It’s important that they end the drip feed of information and that they put all of the facts out there,” he said, adding that people who work for the national broadcaster and the public are looking for answers.
Harris also said he was looking forward to being briefed by Minister Catherine Martin on the terms of reference of the external review into governance and culture at RTÉ.
Irish Secretary of the Nation Union of Journalists Seamus Dooley has said that RTÉ staff are protesting this afternoon to demand “truth, trust, and transparency”.
Speaking to Midlands 103 this morning, Dooley said: “There is a belief while workers on the ground – not just journalists, all workers on the ground – do a good job day-in-day-out, that a small group of people at the top who are very well paid have put in jeopardy the public trust in RTÉ.”
The protest at RTÉ’s campus in Donnybrook is due to kick off at 1pm.
Dee Forbes ‘needs to appear’ before Oireachtas committees
The chair of the RTÉ Trade Union Group (TUG) has said that former director general of the broadcaster Dee Forbes “needs to appear” before the Oireachtas committees this week to answer questions on what she knew of the undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy.
Forbes resigned as director general yesterday, saying in a statement that she cares “very deeply” about RTÉ, the people who work for it, the public it serves and its mission. It remains unclear whether she will be attending either of the committees.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Stuart Masterson said: “I think for her to give that statement validity and truth, she needs to appear in front of the committees to answer the questions in as clear a manner as possible.
“People can say stuff all the time, but actions show the sincerity behind that statement, and I think by her turning up, it would show that she actually does care about RTÉ,” he said.
Masterson added that the TUG will expect “all the primary players involved in this to turn up at both committees and be as open and and involved with the process as possible”, in order to “try to work back some of the trust that has been broken with both the public, the staff and the government”.
Stuart Masterson also told RTÉ’s Morning Ireland that the the sense of “anger and betrayal” felt by staff at the national broadcaster could not be overemphasised.
“Behind every big name, earning hundreds of thousands, are ordinary workers, men and women who are not on high wages, doing their very best to deliver public service broadcasting,” the RTÉ Trade Union Group chair said.
“These people were essential during the pandemic, continued to work so that information and programmes could be carried out as needed.
Many of them have seen their wages frozen for years, which essentially amounts to a pay cut given the rise in inflation over the last number of years. They’ve seen their resources cut and some of them live with uncertainty over contracts.
Masterson added that for those “going from contract to contract”, to learn of the payments made to Ryan Tubridy was an “utter betrayal of the trust that management has broken with staff”.
‘We need to lance this boil immediately’
People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett has called for “full disclosure” from the RTÉ board and executives about who knew about the undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy.
Speaking at the plinth outside the Dáil, Boyd Barrett branded the news of the payments a “kick in the teeth” for others working for the national broadcaster and the public.
“We need to lance this boil immediately, and that means full disclosure now by the RTÉ board and executives about exactly who sanctioned these payments,” he said.
We need absolutely full disclosure and full transparency about all these payments, who was involved, and that should be published now. We shouldn’t have to wait for it to be a managed message at committees.
Boyd Barrett said that journalists and staff who will be protesting outside RTÉ this afternoon are “substantial victims of this scandal” and that they deserve “the facts, truth, full transparency and accountability now”.
He said that anyone who knew about the payments should have to face questions at the Oireachtas committees, and also called on Media Minister Catherine Martin to appear in the Dáil to speak about the matter.
“We don’t think some sort of seven month review is an acceptable way to deal with this,” he said, referencing the external review announced by Martin at the weekend.
He said that a proper discussion about the funding of public service broadcasting is needed and criticised the license fee.
Boyd Barrett added that he believes presenters’ salaries should be capped and the involvement of commercial financing should be examined.
‘Question marks’ around positions of RTÉ Executive Board
Labour senator Marie Sherlock has said there are serious question marks around “how tenable” the positions of members of the RTÉ Executive Board are.
“The future confidence in RTÉ is dependent on who is running the organisation and I think there is serious question marks about how tenable the positions are of certain members of the executive,” she said at the plinth today.
Sherlock said questions also need to be asked about “the very business model within RTÉ”.
“It is extraordinary that we have a situation that a commercial semi-state company has contractors in place to provide core services,” she said.
We have to ask how has RTÉ made gods out of a small number of its workers.
She said RTÉ has said that is has to pay “exorbitant sums to a very small number of people” to retain talent, but looking back over the last 30 years, there have only been “two permanent defections from RTÉ”.
“If we’re to look abroad to Britain or elsewhere, the sums on offer in Britain or elsewhere, obviously are far beyond what RTÉ could ever have paid here. So I think there’s very real issues now about how those negotiations were ever conducted.”
Sherlock also questioned whether the RTÉ board has full oversight over some of the largest commercial sponsorship contracts within the organisation.
“The question has been posed, what is the board there for if it does not have oversight over some of these major decisions being taken by RTÉ executives?”
She also expressed solidarity with RTÉ employees who will be protesting at 1pm.
“The reality out at Montrose at the moment and across the country is that the car is on fire and RTÉ staff are having to keep the show on the road, working extraordinarily difficult circumstances in an environments now where I think many are saying to us privately that they feel massively disrespected,” Sherlock added.
Lauren Boland here again to bring you the latest this afternoon.
Our reporter Carl Kinsella is outside RTÉ headquarters in Donnybrook, where the NUJ has called for staff to join a lunchtime protest.
A member of the Oireachtas Media Committee has suggested that all paid external work events carried out by RTÉ staff should be published on an online register.
Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon said that information about presenters taking on events and appearances that are not part of their role with RTÉ should be made available to the public.
“The board and executive of RTE have a major job on their hands in restoring trust in our national broadcaster. I believe that a key element of that work should be the establishment of a register of external payments, similar to that established by the BBC,” he said in a statement this afternoon.
“There is no issue with anyone being paid for such events, but the viewing public needs to be made aware of relationships between broadcasters and private corporations.
“It is because of their high profile afforded by their roles and work within RTÉ that the on air talent is offered external work. There is nothing wrong with these opportunities being afforded to them once it is transparent to the public what they have undertaken.
“This register should be a key element of restoring trust in RTE and it could be created within a week. Such a register will help to ensure impartiality.”
Ray D’Arcy is the latest RTÉ presenter to issue a statement on his earnings:
“This is a terrible mess. On a human level I feel for the people involved but also share the feelings of anger and disappointment of many people around the country and in RTE. For the record, I haven’t got an agent. All of my salary figures to date have been reported correctly. When asked, I agreed to take a more than 15% cut in 2019. My current salary is €250,000.”
A crowd has gathered now outside RTÉ for the protest by workers. Here are photos from our reporter Carl Kinsella on the scene:
Speaking at the protest, RTÉ News’ Legal Affairs Correspondent Órla O’Donnell said that staff “hope that if the answers are given, if people come out and take responsibility, perhaps we can try and preserve the future of public service broadcasting and the future of this organisation”.
“We want our viewers and listeners and readers to know that we stand with them. We want to know why this happened, how it was let go on, what happened between 2017 and 2019, and why it was covered up and why we have still no proper answers six days into this. We still don’t know exactly what has happened and people are very reluctant to come out and answer questions,” O’Donnell has said.
“We want answers. We want the truth out. Truth matters. We’re always saying that, we’re always telling people that. We want the truth for everybody, for all of us staff who’ve been so badly let down, so badly let down, and the people of Ireland are being let down. We are here to serve the people.
“This is public service broadcasting. How can we stand in front of people and tell them that we are always telling the truth, that we are accurate, fair and impartial? We want the truth and we want to be able to look our viewers and readers and listeners in the eye and tell them that we’re standing up for them today.”
Similarly, Midlands Correspondent Sinéad Hussey said: “I feel very let down as a staff member but I feel very let down for the public, the public that we ask every day can we come into your house? Can we interview you? We feel very betrayed and I think it’s important to show today that we won’t accept this.”
At the same time, our reporter Eimer McAuley is outside Leinster House where Minister Catherine Martin has issued an updated statement after this morning’s Cabinet meeting.
The minister briefed Cabinet on the external review that she is commissioning on governance and culture in RTÉ, with details to be finalised in the coming days.
She has written to the chair of the RTÉ Board to say that the statement it releases today must answer the public’s questions about the payments in question.
“As I have said before, the revelations from RTÉ this past week are unacceptable and damaging to both RTÉ and to public service broadcasting in general. Properly functioning public service media are critical to our democracy and our society,” Minister Martin said.
“Trust and confidence have been broken and it is essential that RTÉ puts the full facts on the public record as a matter of urgency, to avoid further damaging public trust,” she said.
“This morning I wrote to the RTÉ chair to set out my expectation that the further Statement to be released by RTÉ today will address key questions that need to be answered. In particular, the public wants to know who signed off on the payments, who else was involved or aware of these transactions, and when will the further Grant Thornton report commissioned by RTÉ which relates to the understatement of the remuneration of RTÉ’s top paid presenter by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019 be completed.
“At times of crisis, it is the failure to put all information on the record at the earliest possible juncture that does most damage. RTÉ must not now squander this opportunity to share everything that they know on this matter, in advance of the Oireachtas hearings later this week.”
Back at the protest, Education Correspondent Emma O’Kelly also spoke strongly about the disappointment among RTÉ staff this week.
“One of the first messages I got on this crisis was from a colleague who said this is both unbelievable and believable. That really resonated with me,” she said.
She said staff felt the situation was “unbelievable” but that “we also felt it was believable too because many of us either have personal battles in here, or we’ve seen colleagues’, so we know what goes on and we know the culture of this organisation”.
“We don’t need a review – even though we welcome that review – we don’t need a review for us to know about governance and culture in this organisation because we’ve been at the receiving end of that culture for too long. And when I say the receiving end, I don’t mean the end with all the money. Not that receiving end.”
New: A spokesperson for former Director General Dee Forbes, who resigned yesterday, has said she will not be attending the Oireachtas Media Committee due to health reasons.
Senior members of RTÉ are due to attend the Oireachtas Media committee and the Public Accounts committee (PAC) this week to answer questions from politicians.
It is still unclear whether Forbes will attend the PAC meeting. The Journal has asked her spokesperson but has not yet received a response.
Minister Catherine Martin had said earlier this afternoon that it would be “helpful” if Forbes came before the Oireachtas.
After today’s Cabinet meeting, Minister of Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said that the government is “really concerned” about the issues around pay and transparency at RTÉ.
“All the issues in relation to remuneration and pay for RTE are now obviously the subject of heightened public concern,” Donohoe said.
“We need a state broadcaster, but we need a state broadcaster in which pay decisions are made in a transparent way.
“The government is really concerned about the latest developments. Minister [Catherine] Martin briefed us today on the contact that she has had with RTÉ since last Thursday to emphasise the need for transparency and clarity in relation to issues that she became aware of and briefed the government on.”
He said the government will consider the statement that RTÉ releases today.
“I believe that in the coming days the government will be in a position to sign off on an independent review of these issues within RTÉ,” he said.
“I think they’re really serious. I understand entirely the anger that many inside and outside at RTÉ feel in relation to it. We will still need a state broadcaster at the end of all of this, they do valuable work, but these issues are clearly exceptionally serious and the government will respond back to them later in the week.”
There’s no shortage of politicians today making remarks about RTÉ.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar described the revelations are “deeply unsettling”.
Speaking during Leaders’ Questions in the Dáil, he said that they have “shaken public trust in what is an important institution,” he told the Dail parliament”.
“We want to see trust restored quickly, because we do need a strong public service broadcaster for our state,” Varadkar said, calling for RTÉ to give “full and open” answers.
“RTÉ, in very many ways, plays a very important role in our society, from Irish language broadcasting to children’s programmes, to drama, sports to good-quality news, documentaries, election coverage, important public information, for example during the pandemic, and we need to be cognisant of that,” he said.
“If things were done that were wrong, and I believe things that were done were wrong, that needs to stop, it needs to change and people need to be held to account. The institution needs to be restored and to survive.”
Minister Catherine Martin has said that the government will foot the bill for the external review of RTÉ’s culture and governance.
Read our full article on the review here.
Coming from another angle, Screen Producers Ireland, a representative body for production companies, has expressed concern about the impact of the revelations and subsequent fallout on independent producers.
Chief Executive Susan Kirby said that the group’s members are “dismayed at the revelations about governance and transparency of financial reporting and accountability standards at RTE”.
“Of major concern to them is how these issues may impact the funding for independent production,” she said.
“Nothing must be allowed to harm the broadcaster’s ability to continue supporting the independent sector’s production of high-quality content for Irish audiences.”
RTÉ’s North West Correspondent Eileen Magnier has shared this image from the field:
That’s it from me – my colleague Eoghan Dalton is here with you for the next while as we await the extended statement from the RTÉ Board.
Staff from RTÉ Raidió na Gaeltachta have shared this video from their protest in Connemara over the payments scandal.
Baill @RTERnaG & @NuachtTG4 @NuachtRTE de @NUJofficial & @SIPTU ag agóidíocht taobh amuigh de cheanncheathrú @RTERnaG i gCasla #Conamara inniu lena míshástacht a chur in iúl d’ardbhainistíocht @rte faoi chonspóid na n-íocaíochtaí faoi cheilt. #InisAnFhírinne pic.twitter.com/poRRC7ZplM
— Marion Ní Shúilleabháin (@Marion_Ni_S) June 27, 2023
As we await the statement from RTÉ, let’s take a look at what’s happened today so far:
• We discovered that former Director General Dee Forbes will not be attending a meeting of the Oireachtas Media Committee, having cited health reasons
• Culture Minister Catherine Martin confirmed an external review of RTÉ’s culture and governance which she hopes to secure Government approval for this week
• TDs and senators are readying themselves to question RTÉ management over the broadcaster’s underreporting of payments worth €345,000 since 2017 to presenter Ryan Tubridy
• It all came as RTÉ staff gathered for a protest this afternoon to voice their frustration with management in the wake of the controversy over the payments.
Today’s protest by RTÉ staff across the country shows that the organisation “faces a reckoning from within that looms as large as any Oireachtas committee”, reports Carl Kinsella.
In his piece from the Montrose demonstration, a number of staff lambast the broadcaster, including some well-known figures.
Political correspondent Paul Cunningham said staff have discovered in recent days that “there is a special arrangement for special people”, while Caoimhe Ní Laighin, from Nuacht RTÉ, said her unit’s “equipment is all falling apart” with no camera available “even at the weekend”.
Among the details in the lengthy statement from RTÉ this evening were how the broadcaster also footed the bill for hosting commercial events for the sponsor involved in the agreement, Renault.
Eimer McAuley reports that RTÉ stated that it paid, via the UK Barter account used to make previously undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy, “for the costs of hosting the commercial sponsor events in 2022.”
Reaction is ongoing to the day’s events here, with the board of the Writers’ Guild of Ireland saying that it is deeply concerned about the “lack of transparency” around payments.
“In an era in which writers are increasingly being asked to do more for less money, and with budgets and opportunities for Irish writers continually being slashed, it is unconscionable that at the same time RTÉ has been covertly spending money in this fashion,” the guild said.
It added that it hopes that the scandal will “not be used by our Government as an excuse to underfund” the public service broadcaster.
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