RTE has confirmed Ryan Tubridy will still be paid while off air – but will only release how much they are paying him “in due course”.
The state broadcaster is at the centre of a payments scandal after it was discovered Tubridy was paid €345,000 extra in monies that wasn’t publicly declared over a five year period.
Several major investigations are underway at RTE, while the Government is set to green light auditors to go through RTE’s finances. The move could mean it could take months for investigations to be complete, but RTE has confirmed Tubridy will still be paid while off air – but declined to say how much.
In a statement, a spokesman for RTE said: “RTE will publish details of its highest earners for 2022 and 2023, in due course, in line with our public commitment."
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When asked if RTE can confirm if Tubridy will be off from his radio show until the auditor’s investigation is completed, the spokesman added: "RTE has legal obligations under the broadcasting legislation that require its editorial output to be objective and impartial. In circumstances where matters related to the presenter are of public interest, it is not appropriate for the presenter to be on air."
The 50-year-old former Late Late Show host could face being questioned in the Oireachtas about his dealings with RTE, after a Dáil committee chairman said the broadcaster would be compelled to appear in Leinster House if he declines to attend voluntarily. It has been reported that the Government is preparing to give powers to an external reviewer to examine years of the national broadcaster’s financial records.
The intervention, to be agreed on at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, comes after the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard claims that RTE had a “slush fund” for expensive sports and entertainment junkets. That money came from the same UK “barter account” it used to funnel special payments to Tubridy, its highest earner for years.
The controversy began almost a fortnight ago when it was announced that more than €345,000 in hidden payments had been made to Tubridy, the former Late Late Show host. The scandal has even prompted Taoiseach Leo Varadkar to comment that the Gardai could be called in to investigate RTE’s secret slush fund because some of the payments may have been illegal.
The Taoiseach’s comments came after Garda Commissioner, Drew Harris, said that the force is ready and able to conduct a probe if asked.
He told reporters: "I don't think we can rule out the fact that it's not just a case of irregular payments, that some of these payments may have been on the wrong side of the law. But I don't want to jump to that conclusion.”
"The fact that it was so untransparent, even concealed, that payments were made for work that perhaps wasn't done. That's much more serious, I think, and is a matter of real concern."
He added that he was "not sure" if the gardai need to be called in yet: "It did concern me to hear that payments were - or it would appear anyway - that payments were made by RTE to outside contractors for work that wasn't actually done.
"RTE receives public money from the licence fee and other sources and receives commercial money from advertising and commercial partners and that all goes into the one pot.
"I'm not sure that's going to be appropriate going forward. I know, as someone who's a trustee of a political party, we have to keep the public money separate from the money we raise ourselves, we have to produce separate accounts.
“And I'm wondering, might it have been better if [RTE] operated on that basis."
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