SENIOR RTE EXECUTIVES went before the Oireachtas Media Committee today, where they faced a grilling about secret payments made to presenter Ryan Tubridy which totalled €345,000.
Since the revelations last Thursday, the broadcaster’s outgoing director general Dee Forbes was suspended, then resigned, and Tubridy was taken off the air.
Here’s what came to light during the four-hour meeting – and what’s still not clear.
Dee Forbes was asked to resign before the secret payments were made public
RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh revealed that she asked former director general Dee Forbes to resign on 16 June, nearly a week before the secret payments were made public.
Ní Raghallaigh said RTÉ’s Audit and Risk Committee recommended that Forbes’ resignation be sought after it was given a review carried out by Grant Thornton about the payments.
The RTÉ board said in a statement last Friday, 23 June, that Forbes had been suspended on the previous Wednesday, 21 June. RTÉ admitted that Tubridy was paid more than his published salary on Thursday, 22 June.
Forbes then tendered her resignation, with immediate effect, the following Monday, 26 June.
An RTÉ statement published yesterday said Forbes was the only person who knew the full details of the deal.
Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin questioned whether board members should be considering their own positions for allowing Forbes to quit before she had faced parliamentarians.
Ní Raghallaigh conceded that board members had not talked about the implications for the parliamentary committees when deliberating over Forbes’ resignation.
Tubridy is still being paid, despite a pause in contract negotiations
Tubridy is still being paid by RTÉ while a new contract is negotiated for him, following his departure from The Late Late Show.
Interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch told the committee that these negotiations are currently suspended but the presenter is still being paid.
He also said it is “impossible” for Tubridy to return to his RTÉ Radio One show at present for editorial reasons.
Tubridy announced in March he would be stepping down from his role as host of the Late Late Show but he has continued to present his radio show on RTÉ each weekday morning.
He has not been on air since the revelations emerged late last week.
When asked if he envisioned Tubridy returning to the airwaves in the longer term, Lynch said: “Again, I would just say, for editorial reasons he is not on air at the moment.”
Tubridy and his agent will be asked to go before the committee
Chair of the Media Committee Niamh Smyth TD said that Tubridy and his agent, NK Management, will be asked to go before the committee for questioning.
Tubridy said in an initial statement that the controversy was entirely a matter for RTÉ, but in a second statement the next day he apologised for not asking questions about the discrepancy between his publicly reported pay and his actual salary.
Who was in the room for Tubridy’s contract negotiations?
Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne asked who was in the room when Tubridy’s contract was being negotiated. Lynch said that the chief financial officer at the time, someone from legal and Noel Kelly of NK Management would be there, adding that the director general attended some meetings.
Lynch said he became aware of the verbal agreement to underwrite the deal between Tubridy and Renault “literally this week at like 3am on a Monday” after going to look for the physical agreement underwriting it “and I didn’t find one”.
This was when he discovered that the agreement was given verbally on a Teams call, he said.
The deal saw Tubridy receive additional income from commercial partner Renault, with that income guaranteed and underwritten by RTÉ.
The deal ceased in December 2021, leaving RTÉ liable to pay Tubridy the additional income.
When asked if the contract had been completed before he joined RTÉ, chief financial officer Richard Collins said: “The actual main contract, I didn’t sign the main contract.
“It appears the deal was concluded after I took up [the post] … I wasn’t involved.”
"Well, you knew he wasn't being paid in Jelly Tots."
— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) June 28, 2023
Imelda Munster quizzes RTÉ Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins on what was known about Ryan Tubridy's pay deal. pic.twitter.com/weZVewPH8V
Commercial director Geraldine O’Leary also said: “I was not involved in the construction of the commercial deal. I was not in the room, I was not part of the negotiations. When the negotiations had been done, I was advised by the then-CFO and the director general that there was a commercial element being introduced into this multi-annual talent deal.”
How many RTÉ staff are represented by NK Management?
NK Management, which negotiated the additional payments for Tubridy, represents a number of other staff at the broadcaster, but representatives at the committee could not definitively say how many.
Byrne asked how many people in RTÉ are represented by Noel Kelly, the founder and CEO of NK Management, to which Lynch said four or five.
Lynch later clarified that he thought Byrne’s question referred to the top 10 earners in RTÉ. He said in total, he believed there were “10 or 11″ people in the broadcaster represented by NK Management.
He said an exact figure could shortly be provided to the committee.
Director of strategy Rory Coveney said he didn’t know exactly, but “it’s fair to say it’s a considerable number”.
O’Leary said it is “definitely double figures”.
Lynch said that information would be provided “immediately” after the committee.
Committee Chair Niamh Smyth TD said she found it “extraordinary” that no one on the board can answer the question.
What deal has Patrick Kielty secured?
Comedian Patrick Kielty was announced last month as Tubridy’s successor on The Late Late Show.
The representatives were interrogated on the negotiation and details of Kielty’s contract, and his salary package may be made public by the end of the week.
The representatives would not divulge what Kielty will be paid to host the Late Late. Lynch said it was negotiated by the CFO, with input from legal advisors.
When asked whether the board was privy to the details of the contract, Lynch said it was not.
Collins, RTÉ’s CFO, said he “made the chair of the board aware of the deal”.
He said if Kielty agrees, the details of the deal could be made public.
Ní Raghallaigh said the deal still has to go before the board’s remuneration committee, which will be meeting on Friday.
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