MINISTER FOR MEDIA Catherine Martin has received the second Grant Thornton report which looked at the understatement of Ryan Tubridy’s published fees by €120,000 from 2017 to 2019.
The national broadcaster has been engulfed in controversy since the first external audit, which found that RTÉ had underdeclared Tubridy’s earnings by a total of €345,000 from 2017 to 2022.
Additionally, RTÉ had agreed to underwrite three €75,000 payments, which effectively resulted in the publicly funded body covering the costs of unfulfilled appearances Tubridy had signed on to do.
The Board of RTÉ received the second Grant Thornton report yesterday.
It’s understood Minister Martin has also received the report and is currently examining it.
She has spoken with RTÉ chairperson Siún Ní Raghallaigh.
RTÉ’s board said in a statement yesterday: “The second Grant Thornton report has been furnished and will now be the subject of detailed consideration by both the Audit and Risk Committee of the RTÉ Board and the broader Board itself.
“This process is ongoing.”
It is not yet clear when the report will be published.
RTÉ News reported today that the broadcaster has seen another fall in TV licence revenue as sales fell by nearly €900,000 in the second week of August, compared with the same week last year.
In the second week of August, TV licence sales were 7,166 compared to 12,610 for the corresponding week in 2022. This is a drop of 43% and amounts to €871,000.
In total, TV licence revenue is down nearly €4.6 million since the broadcaster has been engulfed in Tubridy payment scandal, RTÉ News reported.
Speaking last Thursday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar appealed to members of the public to pay their TV licence.
“I would certainly encourage people to continue to pay their licence fee,” Varadkar said.
“Notwithstanding the recent controversy, the licence fee pays for our news, pays for arts broadcasting, sports, children’s, Irish-language broadcasting – things that are of real value and I would encourage people to continue to pay their licence fee,” he said.
When asked if RTÉ had made an additional request for funding in light of the drop in TV-licence payments, Varadkar said the national broadcaster has had a long-standing request for additional funding before the controversy but has not yet sought additional funds on top of that.
He said any additional funding for RTÉ would have to be worked out later in the year and be subject to conditions.
With reporting by Press Association
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