The scandal around the pay of Ireland’s top TV presenter is “one of the most shameful and damaging episodes” in RTÉ’s history, the new director general of the Irish public broadcaster has told a parliamentary committee.
Just four days into his new job, Kevin Bakhurst, a former BBC and Ofcom executive, has found himself at the centre of a storm over under-declared pay for the Late Late Show host, Ryan Tubridy.
Bakhurst told members of the committee of public accounts that it was “completely unacceptable” that the public and politicians were misled by previous management over Tubridy’s pay.
“The public were misled as were you as public representatives. That is completely unacceptable. I want to assure you that lessons have already been learned and actions are already being taken,” he said.
In a measure of the depth of the controversy, Thursday’s session was the sixth committee appearance over governance and finance issues at RTÉ in the past three weeks.
Bakhurst started his job on Monday by standing down the executive leadership team and told TDs (members of parliament) he was “absolutely determined” to implement further “change and reform that will help us draw a line under the shameful period in RTÉ’s history and rebuild trust”.
Part of the controversy stemmed from payments made by RTÉ to Tubridy in a “tripartite deal” with Renault, which sponsored the Late Late Show that the star hosted.
Declaring the “culture in RTÉ needs to change”, he said RTÉ should not be “brokering or facilitating” commercial arrangements with its contractors, and that the level of fees in these contracts “are too high”.
Among the reforms he will institute are the publication of the pay of the executive on his permanent leadership team, along with the remuneration of the top 10 presenters’ pay in the broadcaster’s annual report.
He confirmed that RTÉ was discussing what pay was now appropriate for Tubridy, who stepped down from the Late Late Show in spring but is contracted to present a daily radio programme.
He has not been on air since the controversy broke and Bakhurst said a decision about his future would be taken after “a fair process” including discussions with colleagues and staff.
Pressed on whether RTÉ was continuing to pay Tubridy while he was off air, Bakhurst said it had “not settled on exactly what he should be paid at the moment” as he was not doing his duties.
Various inquiries have been launched into Ireland’s public service broadcaster since it admitted on 22 June that it had understated payments made to Tubridy by €345,000 (£295,000) over five years, including two years during the pandemic. The revelations caused outrage and the broadcaster apologised for what it called a betrayal of public trust.
On Tuesday, in the first full statement by Tubridy, the star attacked RTÉ for creating a “fog of confusion” that had left the public wrongly assuming that he had concealed payments, when he said he had not.
