A bombshell RTE report concerning the undeclared payments to Ryan Tubridy has placed ex-Director General Dee Forbes in the firing line.
This evening, RTE released a lengthy nine-page statement as the broadcaster tried explain what lead to its underreporting of payments worth €345,000 to Late Late Show presenter Tubridy. According to the RTE statement, former Director General Dee Forbes had "all the necessary information" over the RTE payments scandal and that "no illegality” was involved in the undeclared payments to presenter Ryan Tubridy.
The statement also claimed that ex-RTE Director General Dee Forbes was the only person who could have known that Ryan Tubridy's published salary was wrong over the last five years in RTE.
However, the statement added that Ms Forbes has not yet had the opportunity to respond to the details set out in its statement and may “therefore challenge or disagree with our understanding and position”.
Read more: RTE claims only Dee Forbes had 'all the necessary information' in Ryan Tubridy payments scandal
We take a look at the main points from the RTE statement:
What did RTE's statement say today?
The RTE statement states that Ryan Tubridy’s contract was due to expire in 2020 and RTE wanted to introduce wider cost-saving measures, particularly among the top 10 earners of RTE.
They negotiated a new five-year contract for the years 2020 to 2025 with Ryan Tubridy's agent with a 15% pay cut for the presenter. In addition, there was a commercial agreement, known as the ‘Tri-partite Agreement’, negotiated between RTE, Ryan Tubridy’s agent and Renault in early 2020.
The separate 'Tri-partite Agreement' stated that Tubridy would be paid €75,000 per year in exchange for personal appearances up to a "maximum of three events" - however, these were impacted by Covid.
The arrangement was subject to a condition that it was to be cost neutral for the commercial partner, Renault, so RTE issued a credit note which in effect reduced the cost of their overall sponsorship by €75,004.
Ryan Tubridy’s agent wanted a guarantee that Tubridy would be paid the €75,000 each year so it was agreed that RTE would underwrite the terms of the commercial arrangement.
The former RTE Director General, Dee Forbes, agreed to underwrite this however, today's statement claims "there had been significant push back by RTÉ" in relation to this aspect.
After the first year, the commercial partner, Renault, who sponsor the Late Late Show, chose not to renew the commercial deal which resulted in RTE being liable to pay the €75,000 to Ryan Tubridy instead.
RTE paid the money for 2021 and 2022 in the year 2022 when Tubridy's agent issued two invoices for the sum of €75,000 each on 9 May 2022 and 6 July 2022 to the Barter Company.
These invoices were paid via a UK barter account and were labelled with the description ‘Consultancy Fees’ and make no reference to Ryan Tubridy.
Ryan Tubridy’s salary is subsequently reported on RTE’s top 10 talent list for 2020 and 2021, as €466,250 and €440,00 respectively, without reference to the €75,000 per year paid to him by the commercial partner and RTE.
Tuesday's statement doesn’t address the underreporting of Ryan Tubridy's earnings from 2017 - 2019 as they are being reviewed in a separate report.
Who is being held accountable over the RTE payments?
The RTE statement states that no one else other than the then RTE Director General Dee Forbes knew the full details of payments at the time.
However, RTE outlined in the statement that as a former employee, she has not had the opportunity to respond to the details set out in the statement and "may therefore challenge or disagree with our understanding and position".
On page five of the RTE statement it claims that Dee Forbes was the only person who could have known that Ryan Tubridy's published salary was wrong over the last five years in RTE.
It states: “No member of the RTÉ Executive Board, other than the Director General, had all the necessary information in order to understand that the publicly declared figures for Ryan Tubridy could have been wrong.”
Ryan Tubridy had ‘no wrongdoing’ in relation to payments, report finds
The RTE statement states that The Grant Thornton report "makes no finding of wrongdoing on the part of Ryan Tubridy in relation to any payments made by RTÉ".
In the Grant Thornton report, Tubridy’s agent states that Tubridy was not involved in making the commercial deal, "Sponsorship agreements between Commercial Brands and RTÉ were entered into by the Commercial team in RTÉ and that these agreements did not include the Talent" - i.e. Ryan Tubridy.
It also states: "Ryan Tubridy was not aware of the credit note provided by RTÉ to the commercial partner."
€75,000 payments 'underwritten' by RTE
The agreement to 'underwrite' and guarantee the €75,000 was approved by the former RTE Director General.
A verbal guarantee was given during a Microsoft Teams meeting on May 7, 2020 between Tubridy’s agent, Dee Forbes and an RTÉ solicitor that RTÉ would underwrite the commercial agreement.
This means that RTE would be obliged to step in and pay Tubridy the €75,000 a year in the event the commercial sponsor did not pay.
Today's statement states that "this final aspect had been sought by the Agent throughout the negotiations and there had been significant push back by RTÉ".
What is the ‘Tri-partite Agreement’?
Ryan Tubridy's agent negotiated a deal where Tubridy would receive payment to the value of €75,000 per year via a commercial deal.
The commercial sponsor, Renault, would pay Tubridy that money in return for a credit note from RTE of the same value, making it cost neutral for the commercial partner. RTE agreed to underwrite the commercial agreement which would guarantee payment to Tubridy in the event the commercial sponsor did not pay.
Tubridy got paid by Renault in 2021 for the year 2020 however, Renault decided not to renew the contract after the first year meaning that RTE were required to pay the remainder directly to Tubridy.
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