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RTÉ HAS FACED a gruelling 24 hours in the spotlight after revelations emerged on Thursday that it has under-reported exactly how much it has paid Ryan Tubridy over the past number of years.
Details of additional payments to Tubridy first emerged yesterday, and have prompted a deluge of statements from the broadcaster, the presenter himself and Government and opposition politicians – as well as anger from the public and RTÉ staff.
It has posed major questions for the future funding of the broadcaster as well as Tubridy himself. Here’s what we know so far – and what exactly those questions are.
Secret payments totalling €345,000 to Ryan Tubridy between 2017 and March of this year have gone unreported by RTÉ.
The broadcaster publishes the annual salaries of its top earners every year (though RTÉ only discloses earnings from two years previously – for example, the most recent release of figures in March of this year related to salaries from 2021).
Those figures consistently show that Tubridy is RTÉ’s top earner. According to the latest release in March, the former Late Late host was officially paid €440,000 in 2021.
But now it’s emerged that this isn’t the full story.
A statement released by RTÉ yesterday revealed that in 2020 and 2021, Tubridy was paid an additional income of €75,000 per year.
This was originally intended to come from a commercial partner – understood to be Renault – in exchange for a number of personal appearances.
RTÉ issued a credit note to Renault, which reduced the cost of a sponsorship arrangement it already had with the broadcaster.
The additional payment was guaranteed and underwritten by RTÉ. When Renault decided not to renew the agreement after 2020, RTÉ made payments to Tubridy’s agent, on the broadcaster’s behalf.
So as well as the payment from Renault in 2020, Tubridy also received €150,000 from RTÉ in the form of two payments of €75,000 each for 2021 and 2022.
These payments were made via what’s known as a barter account, which are used by companies to exchange goods or services for other goods or services (for example, a company selling mineral water might supply water to a show in exchange for free advertising during an ad break).
The use of barter accounts is an industry standard but is done through an intermediary, so doesn’t come for free – in this case, RTÉ spent an additional €80,000 in fees to the intermediary, on top of the €150,000 that was paid to Tubridy.
On top of that, RTÉ said that it had also understated Tubridy’s actual earnings from 2017 to 2019 and for the first three months of 2023, to the tune of almost €140,000.
Tubridy’s annual earnings published by RTÉ between the years 2017 and 2022 ranged from €440,000 to €491,667, but actually ranged from €511,667 to €545,000.
So while the broadcaster initially claimed in its public releases before yesterday that Tubridy earned around €2.8 million between 2017 and 2022, the correct figure was north of €3 million.
In late March (shortly after Tubridy announced he was stepping down as host of the Late Late Show), internal auditors examining RTÉ’s accounts for 2022 discovered an issue around what the broadcaster has described as “transparency of certain payments”.
The RTÉ Board was informed and its Audit and Risk Committee then commissioned external auditors Grant Thornton to carry out an independent review.
Grant Thornton’s findings were presented back to the committee last Friday before a wider board meeting was held on Monday to discuss the matter.
Yesterday, there were media reports about a potential issue relating to payments at RTÉ, but it was unclear specifically what the problem was.
The Journal and other outlets had contacted the broadcaster asking about the matter earlier in the week, but received no response.
Media Minister Catherine Martin, whose brief deals with RTÉ, was also asked by reporters yesterday whether she was aware of an issue. She said that she was aware of the issue but didn’t specify what it was either.
It has been reported that some RTÉ staff were given full details about the matter at 2.30pm on Thursday afternoon, just half an hour before the broadcaster issued a lengthy statement which confirmed details about the payments to Tubridy.
Chair of the RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh, who was quoted in that RTÉ statement, apologised and expressed “profound regret” about the controversy on behalf of the board.
“We are well aware that this is a serious breach of trust with the public. On behalf of the Board, I wish to apologise for what has occurred. It is clear that RTÉ has fallen short of the high standards that it sets for itself and are expected of it,” her statement said.
She also said that the board “acted expeditiously to establish the facts” once the issue came to light, and expressed confidence that safeguards had been put in place to ensure a similar issue would never happen again.
Shortly afterwards, Tubridy issued a statement of his own suggesting he was unaware of the revelations. Unapologetic, he sought to distance himself from the controversy and to lay blame on RTÉ instead.
“Like many people, I’m surprised by the announcements made in RTÉ’s statement today regarding the errors in the reporting of its accounts,” he said.
“It is unfortunate that these errors are in relation to how RTÉ have reported payments made to me but I just want to be clear: this is a matter for RTÉ and I have no involvement in RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment or RTÉ’s public declarations in connection with such payments.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed to be at the centre of this story but unfortunately, I can’t shed any light on why RTÉ treated these payments in the way that they did nor can I answer for their mistakes in this regard.”
In a second statement this afternoon, Tubridy did apologise and said he should have asked questions about his arrangements, though he still sought to blame RTÉ.
“While I have no responsibility for the corporate governance in RTE 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,” he said.
“I didn’t and bear responsibility for my failure to do so. For this, I apologise unreservedly.”
He also addressed speculation that his announcement on 16 March that he was stepping down from the Late Late Show coincided that internal RTÉ auditors unearthed the discrepancy in the broadcaster’s accounts, saying the two are unrelated.
Tubriday’s agent NK Management – which represents a number of other top RTÉ stars – took the same tack in a statement of its own.
“These are matters for which RTÉ has sole responsibility and accountability,” the company said.
“There is no issue whatsoever in relation to the payments being properly and lawfully due and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Ryan Tubridy or NK Management.”
Nevertheless, Tubridy was pulled from his 9am show on RTÉ Radio 1 this morning and replaced by Oliver Callan. He will remain off the airwaves next week.
Figures in RTÉ would have signed off on the arrangement and made a decision to underwrite the €75,000 fee, and people are demanding answers from the top of the organisation.
In a significant development today, the broadcaster confirmed that its Director General Dee Forbes was suspended from her employment on Wednesday, a day before the controversy broke.
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 on Friday morning the RTÉ board confirmed she had been suspended.
The reasons for her suspension were not disclosed by RTÉ, which also didn’t say how long her suspension will last. There is currently no indication that Forbes knew about or was responsible for the payments to Tubridy.
In a statement this evening, she said she had been “fully engaged with the board since the matter arose” and during the audit of accounts.
“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.
In addition, the broadcaster has been proactive in attempting to find out if other presenters have similar arrangements in place.
It has carried out an internal review into the pay of other top 10 earners at the station, which RTÉ says has shown that “all remuneration figures” were correctly accounted for.
However, it has commissioned Grant Thornton to carry out an external audit of payments to those other top 10 earners as well so that the results of its own internal audit can be independently verified.
In the day since the story broke, there have been various Government statements and comments about the controversy.
Tánaiste Micheál Martin said today that the revelations represented a breach of trust, and he criticised the public broadcaster.
“There’s huge shock and surprise in terms of the manner of this. I think we need more clarification,” he said.
Minister for Arts and Media Catherine Martin has also been in touch with senior RTÉ officials, and is set to meet them in her Department tomorrow.
Catherine Martin said in a statement last night that she was “extremely concerned” at the details which had emerged. She confirmed that she had spoken to RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh about the matter.
“The public rightly expect much higher standards of transparency and accountability from Ireland’s public service broadcaster,” she said.
“It will be equally important for the board to demonstrate that it is putting in place appropriate structures and processes to prevent a recurrence of a matter of this nature.”
In contrast to Martin’s formal statement, other politicians were more gung ho in taking aim at RTÉ and demanding accountability.
“Today’s bombshell revelations involve a breach of trust from an organisation that has repeatedly put on the poor mouth about its dire financial situation when seeking an increase in the television licence fee,” Social Democrats TD Catherine Murphy said.
Fianna Fáil Senator and member of the Oireachtas Media Committee, Malcolm Byrne, also raised the issue of RTÉ’s requests for funding.
“This will not help RTÉ’s case for additional public funding. It does represent a test for the new Chair and Chief Executive of RTÉ to set out their values and vision in response to this scandal,” he said.
Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley, who chairs the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee, told The Journal that he has written to his fellow committee members saying he was requesting an immediate explanation from RTÉ.
He said RTÉ needs to explain “why this happened, who is responsible and explain what is being done to ensure this kind of thing doesn’t happen again”.
It’s expected that representatives of the broadcaster will appear before the Public Accounts Committee next week to answer questions about the issue.
But politicians aren’t the only ones asking questions.
Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists, Seamus Dooley, said there were questions around who signed off on the payments to Tubridy and whether the executive board had any role in doing so.
“I have never heard of a barter account, but I don’t like the smell of it,” he said.
Chair of the RTÉ Trade Union Group, Stuart Masterson, likewise described the controversy as “a significant breach of trust”.
“RTÉ have done immense damage to the relationship with staff,” he said. “This happened at a time when staff were engaged in cost-cutting negotiations with management.”
Although RTÉ’s initial statement was wide-ranging in its disclosures about the additional payments to Tubridy and the actions that have been taken since, this is only the start of the controversy.
The revelations and Tubridy’s subsequent attempts to lay the blame at the foot of his employer have created a slew of questions that fall into three broad categories: what Tubridy knew; how RTÉ explains itself; and the relationship between RTÉ and its staff.
Tubridy has painted himself into a corner with his statements and previous claims he’s made about his income.
He said in August 2020 that his salary had been reduced – a month after he received the first €75,000 payment under the arrangement. Why did he claim this when that evidently wasn’t the case?
He said today that “it is simply not true” that he didn’t take a pay cut and that his pay has been cut by 40% between 2012 and today. But does this include commercial arrangements like the one underwritten by RTÉ?
More broadly, did Tubridy know that the figures RTÉ published each year from 2017 to 2022 weren’t accurate? And if he did, why did he allow them to remain that way?
He said in his second statement that he “should have asked questions” at the time, but not addressed why he didn’t do so.
Is it credible that he wasn’t aware of the commercial arrangement until yesterday – especially if it involved ‘personal appearances’ by him? Did he not notice additional income in his bank account?
His second statement today confirmed that he was aware of the arrangement. So why did he claim to be “surprised” by RTÉ’s announcement after the story broke?
People will also be wondering whether Tubridy can survive the controversy and when he will return to the airwaves – he has confirmed that he will continue to be absent from his 9am radio show next week, having stepped back from his duties this morning.
The biggest questions, however, will be asked of RTÉ, particularly around who knew what and when.
Answers will likely come in the coming days and weeks, particularly if the Public Accounts Committee hauls RTÉ representatives before politicians next week.
But some of the broadcaster’s attempts to be transparent have already fallen short and begged further questions.
RTÉ has not yet said how or why Tubridy’s salary was under-reported from 2017 to 2019 and for the first three months of this year. Nor is it clear why it opted to guarantee the €75,000 payments from Renault, or why this arrangement was set up in the first place.
Meanwhile, there are issues around the barter account which was used to pay Tubridy under that commercial arrangement.
RTÉ’s former commercial director Willie O’Reilly, who is familiar with the use of barter accounts, told the broadcaster’s News at One programme that he “nearly fell over” when he learned about how the barter accounts had been used in this instance.
“When I saw the statement from RTÉ, it said that at some stage that there was very loose controls, and that now they had been brought in house,” he said.
This begs more questions: Why were they not overseen more rigidly until now, and are there any other issues with these accounts?
For the broadcaster, the additional payments to Tubridy came at a time when RTÉ committed to reducing the fees it would pay to its top presenters.
Another immediate question is whether any other presenters had their salaries understated or had deals in place that were similar to Tubridy’s.
If RTÉ’s internal audit is to be believed, then some of its other ‘top 10′ earners are not affected – but how many of its high earners have actually been audited?
The ‘top 10′ list changes year to year, and there are plenty of high earners in the company outside the 10 highest-paid presenters.
Most crucially, there are big existential questions for the broadcaster.
The episode has created a trust issue for RTÉ, both from the public and among its staff, who are said to be furious at the revelations.
It will be incredibly difficult to justify calls for additional funding, whether from central Government or through an increase in the licence fee, without provoking even more anger from the public.
Sinn Féin’s Brian Stanley said the revelation of the secret payments meant any increase in the licence fee would be “off the radar” – and it would be hard to find a political figure who disagrees with him.
But RTÉ has been crying out for more funding for years, telling politicians in 2021 that it faced an “existential” financial crisis, which has come in part due to a fall in advertising revenues and households moving away from TV consumption.
Now the broadcaster is enveloped in an entirely different crisis, this time of its own making. There is a long road ahead, and many questions to answer, before it can navigate its way out of these latest problems.
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The Tubridy pay scandal explained,,, answer ,, they where caught out …simply
@david finglas: I wonder will U2 ask for the bike back!
@david finglas: im sure its just a big misunderstanding.the money was only resting in tubridys account.
Anyone know where John Delaney is nowadays?
@Popcorn Sutton: you mean the very bright red lad?
@Jack Cronin: With family I’d imagine since his father passed away a few days ago.
@Jack Cronin:
He’s not eating at a chip van in Killarney .. that’s for sure
Some people are saying that it is not Ryan’s fault that RTE under reported the money but he knew it was under reported and said as much. It’s about integrity. He is the main star on the national broadcaster that is paid for mostly by a tax. Its not ok for him to adopt the head down don’t ask don’t tell if no one finds out it’s grand attitude. I’m angry over the deception and lack of integrity and to be honest pure greed. It’s public money and they need to be accountable and act with integrity at all times, not let’s see what we can get away with.
What about the Siun bird forgetting about giving Deirdre ”Dee” the temporary P45 the day before the Rte interview..Poor Auld Ryan forgetting to tell them that he was up 75 grand in the wages every year..Wild amount of forgetfulness in that outfit.
Of course he knew, go on outta that. No getting away from it Ryan, you were caught be de bollix.
RTE board for sacking asap
Stop paying the TV tax.
Oh wait, Tubridy has apologised unreservedly.
These are scary words when you hear them from the Irish elite. It means there’s nothing more to see here, now the peasant population should go back to they’re jobs.
@Jack Cronin: And be quick about it or suffer the consequences, we will tax you more, raise petrol prices, keep utilities high and fine you if you don’t get a licence.
@Jack Cronin: love island next year. TV3. He’ll put the boot in, new book.
@Jack Cronin:
there is more coming ..
Seeing as we’re FINALLY acknowledging that RTÉ has undone all its goodwill, let’s take a second look at Claire Byrne broadcasting live from her Potemkin isolation shed in her back garden soundstage, along with all the little “hush-hush” get-togethers RTÉ staff had during the lockdown. Never forget what these people did.
The rich get richer.
I wish I was paid so much I didn’t notice an extra €75,000 in my bank account.
Get rid of the licence fee and make RTE a pay per view station. Lets see how much money they make then with all their high quality productions .
Mr Tubridy, you have obviously seen the figures published by RTE and knew they were not accurate, so why did you not call it out???
If RTE was a private business it would have been liquidated!
@Neil Harvey:
Mr Tubridy, you obviously saw Gerry Ryan and knew he was doping, so why did you not call it out???
Ireland is a laugh, it has to be said..
I reckon tubbers still has a better chance of beating bertie to the aras, unless jedward enter the race then it’s anyones guess
@david finglas: the Monk has a better chance than Bertie.
@Brian Farrell: yeah that really makes sence both of em don’t have bank accounts
@david finglas: yes they do.
@Brian Farrell: I would certainly believe Bertie would have had a bank account, which in turn means the banks covered that up!!
@Brian Farrell: As professional criminals they learned the lessons of having a bank account. One did as a living the other used the ballot box.
Theatre, lets all ignore the proposed hate speech laws, the push for NATO, unlimited unvetted immigration, the sustained attack on rural life/ family and the rotten government and its supposed ‘opposition’.
What else has been going on?
Should we have a referendum on TV license?
@tommy: Yes Tommy We Should. The Public should demand it. But the Greedy politicians Won’t agree to it, they know RTE would have to go behind a pay wall and would lose millions in revenue because of the Absolute Rubbish they produce.
@Mick Hanna:
this week for example what RTE are giving us
crimecall tonight
prime time tomorrow night
mrs browns boys d’movie wednesday night
horrible bosses 2 thursday night
argo friday night
the only decent thing i can recommend is a film saturday night
its called THE PROGRAM , its about lance armstrong
How quickly you can go from Saint to Sinner
I think it’s fair to assume and say the golden cow is starting to crumble around their ears. Be the top salaries worth it or not that’s another debate but the coffin lid already has many nails in it.
Who was the intermediary working on the barter account?
@Brendan Devlin: Not sure, but the fact RTE paid 80K fees to transfer 150K to Tubridy, reeks of wrongdoing.
Need to say Tubridy isn’t in the wrong. If your employer pays you more than you think, what would you do ? It’s the employer not the employee who is at fault
@Ciaran: Someone lodges money into your account by mistake. Does it make it yours. No. It belongs to someone. You have a moral duty to give it back. Spend it and it’s theft. Same with Tubs, Whether he knew about it or not it didn’t belong to him.
@Ciaran: couldn’t agree more
@Dave Barrett: of course it belonged to him. It wasn’t a mistake. RTE made a deal with Renault to pay him a certain amount for appearances or whatever the promotional work was for 3 years. RTE messed up by taking on the guarantee for 3 years themselves (Renault pulled out after 1 year but RTE continued to honour the deal).
If you make a contract with someone, you have to honour it. They did, but they were shady about. RTE 100% at fault on this one.
@Ciaran: hmm ain’t a regular employee and employee though / RTE are funded by the people / they were repeatedly asking for increases in funding ( increase the license fee) because they can’t efficiently manage their business / then they tried to say they needed staff to accept cuts and they were making cuts to their top stars. They said this in front of Public Accounts committee ffs / and the numbers being reported were hundreds of thousands more than they were reporting / Ryan knew this was incorrect and that’s why he apologised today for not speaking out / so with respect he has to own his share of the blame regardless of employee / employee relations. They have a huge hill to climb now getting public to agree to pay more increases / just watch what happens payment levels !
@Ciaran: not really more than he thought though is it ciaran? He knew what he was meant to get as he had to do a certain amount of appearances for Renault to honour the contract. He couldn’t come out and say what he was really earning as it would have affected brand Turbidy, especially when everyone else was being asked to take a pay cut
@Dave Barrett: do you not understand the issue the problem isn’t the amount but the method of payment and understating of his salary by RTE which equates to decepting the public.
FF, FG RTE, GAA just a handful of people currently in the corruption controversy to do with our current government. How long do we keep saying ‘ah but they weren’t to know”. Varadkar washing us out with immigration we can’t house. Martin putting our neutrality on the line and calling protesters a step too far. Varadkar leaking documents. Dee Forbes on the board of GAA Go while director General of RTE. Brough to answer in her final two weeks and Tubs legged it before the fire. Grow up and break the Stockholm syndrome we’re being laughed at. I can’t wait for the muppet who says remember SF in 1960.
There should be an enquiry into why some so called entertainers on RTE are paid at all and should be grateful for the free exposure as sufficient recompense , such is the lack of talent.
I wonder if the utterly talentless Darcy is getting nervous?
@David Lawlor: He hit the wrong button a few time today…Again…Even the q cards are proving no help.
Gawd, what a picture to post. I’ve never seen a picture on a news repiet of Ryan Tubridy before where he wasn’t a shiny happy person
Pay your licience so these puppets get this astorshin money.tubs miriam, duffy, to name but a few overated overpaid.Rte is not fit for its purpose nor are the bom.
That’s why I always go hungry and pay my licence fee, to keep the D4 gang afloat. It’s hideous.
Twas the Shinners what done it.
The sad thing in all of this is… public service broadcasting is taking the hit here…… We, more than ever, need a genuine public broadcasting service that is ethical, truthful, supports real news, an is a voice for minorities in our community, gives coverage to sports & arts the “big” media outlets aren’t interested in. Politicians and government need to be really firm in making those who run RTÉ stick to these principles …..Paying 40c a day is great value for this service …. but this carry on makes it very hard to make the case… The ordinary 5/8 has to be on board otherwise we’re on a very slippery slope!!!
@Gerry: I’d be amazed if the majority of television viewers did watch RTÉ. RTÉ claim that the entire population of Ireland watches RTÉ regularly in order to charge huge fees to advertisers for the allegedly captive audience. Paying for a service that people don’t watch is not a bargain, it’s extortion. And to cap it all, they put the mandatory fee up because their advertising sales went down. I have never seen them halving the licence fee because advertising revenue was up!
Don’t you see that they’re farming the amount of viewers for money? We are their income stream.
He looks very like Sean Quinn in that photo, just saying
Oliver Callan is doing a commendable job sitting in for Tubridy. The Journal seems to have searched for the most sinister photo they could find of Tubs for this article. I find that unfair.
@Ordinary Bloke:
gerry adams cheer leader
“When you know, you know” Ryan Tuberty. on leaving tLLShow .
But obviously, he didn’t know when he knew. 345.000 reason not to know.
Will there be a tribunal??
@John Farrell: Probably..only to be followed by another tribunal to investigate their report…It will then go to a committee to give a report on the findings of the two tribunals ..A couple of years later the committee will give the report to the relevant Minister. He / She will give a rousing speech and the report will gather dust for the years to come.
…..their jobs.
How far back do such arrangements go, I wonder. Will Grant Thornton investigate whether previous Late Late Show hosts had similar arrangements with 3rd party sponsors, also facilitated by RTE.
Could there be “one for everyone in the audience” ?????????
What scandal??? Country has turned into a nation of moaners and begrudgers. Cop on, this lad deserved every penny he got having to entertain a million people every morning.
@Oliveraie de Paravieille: What are you smoking, They have not legalised Mary J yet.
@Oliveraie de Paravieille: brown envelope for you love and i mean brown
@Oliveraie de Paravieille: entertain ? It’s like listening to paint dry. The man is a talentless over ambitious me feiner if he was a melted choc ice he would still lick himself
@Oliveraie de Paravieille: Never had anytime for him, sure he’ll pay it all back now?
@Oliveraie de Paravieille:
when you’re paid by the tax payers you don’t lie about it
@declan hassett:
to say he comes from a FF family is an understatement
It’s about RTE doing what always do, blowing smoke up the publics a s s. No more paying rte’s excess license fee.
@Fintan Stack: exactly, the country needs to stop paying the TV license. It’s outdated as it is before this nonsense . If it’s done on mass they can’t bring us all to court
Y
Shock, horror….
the madness
Did he pay the right tax
Somebody said it not me : ‘Ireland is too small to be a republic , and too big to be a lunatic asylum ‘.
I think we’re nicer than that though
“President Tubridy” mmm has a nice ring to it!
@Alan: After this? I’d sooner vote for the mother in law, and we never got on!
What a hypocrite. I’m so pissed off as I liked the guy from an entertainment perspective but more so loved him as i believed in his standards. Stick your MK statement Ryan,.
Fool me for once ..etc
Steps have been taken so this kind of thing won’t happen again … what a crock
What a hypocrite. I’m so pissed off as I liked the guy from an entertainment perspective but more so loved him as i believed in his standards. Stick your MK statement Ryan,.
Fool me for once .
that first photo is perfect .. shows us the real ryan tubridy
Why pay Tubridy over half a million a year? Where would he go if they decided to cut his salary by half or even two thirds? For a tiny country like ours to pay a public presenter that kind of money is laughable. The result of this must be massive and immediate cuts to the top ten highest RTE earners. At a time when we are tripping over sleeping bags up and down Grafton St….call their bluff, they have nowhere to go
Tubridy was right about one thing when he took his ‘pay cut’ “he wont be found wanting”
have your say