Ryan Tubridy has blamed RTE for failing to declare €345,000 paid to the top presenter – saying the error has nothing to do with him.
In a statement issued this afternoon, the RTE board said that between 2017 and 2022, Tubridy received a series of payments totalling €345,000 above his annual published salary, which were not declared to the public and the Oireachtas.
The payments were uncovered after the company's auditors alerted the board to some of the transactions.
READ MORE: RTE apologises at it emerges Ryan Tubridy was paid €345,000 more than declared in annual salary
The former Late Late Show host voiced surprise at the announcement made by the station - but said the error has nothing to do with him.
In a statement he said: “Like many people, I’m surprised by the announcements made in RTÉ’s statement today regarding the errors in the reporting of its accounts.
“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. “
The father-of-two added that he was “disappointed” to be at the “centre of this story” but added he has no answers to the mistakes made.
“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.”
The RTE statement said that a review found that under a separate agreement Mr Tubridy was guaranteed by RTÉ an additional annual income of €75,000 which was intended to come from a commercial partner.
One of the payments came from a commercial partner of the station, in exchange for a number of personal appearances a year.
"As part of this agreement, RTÉ in turn issued a credit note to the commercial partner thereby reducing the cost to it of its overall sponsorship arrangement with the organisation," the statement said.
"The commercial partner did not renew this agreement for a second year, and since the agreement was guaranteed and underwritten by RTÉ, the payments were instead made directly by RTÉ to Mr Tubridy's agent (on his behalf)."
As a result, Tubridy received two payments of €75,000, totalling €150,000 in 2022 for that year and the previous year.
These payments were recorded in what is known as a "barter account", which are commonly used in the marketing and advertising sector to enable goods or services to be exchanged for money.
The statement also said that further investigations had revealed that between 2017 and 2019, Tubridy received a total of €120,000 more in payments from the station than had been previously publicly stated.
The reasons for these payments are currently under investigation, it added.
The RTÉ Board said that as a result of the developments, it is necessary for it to correct the public record in relation to Mr Tubridy's earnings from RTÉ during the period 2017-2022.
"The RTÉ Board considers the public misstating of RTÉ's financial information to be a very serious matter and has moved as quickly as it could, once it had independently established the facts, to publish the correct figures," it said.
The statement added that the board has conducted an internal review of the reporting of the remuneration of its top 10 most highly paid on-air presenters and this has found that the full cost to RTÉ of its contracts with the other such on-air presenters has been correctly reported.
"The Board is committed to ensuring that there is appropriate accountability for what has occurred," it said.
"That process is ongoing, mindful of individuals' rights, and affording them due process."
A statement from NK management – who act as Tubridy’s agent – said: “We were made aware today of RTÉ’s statement concerning its accounting treatment and public declarations of payments made to Ryan Tubridy.
“These are matters for which RTÉ has sole responsibility and accountability. 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.
“These issues are solely concerned with RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment and public declarations in respect of such lawful payments.”
Chair of the RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh apologised for the “serious breach of trust with the public” and confirmed that Mr Tubridy will not present his radio show tomorrow morning amid the payments controversy.
“This is a matter of profound regret for the Board of RTÉ. 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. Once these issues came to light, we acted expeditiously to establish the facts and we are confident that the safeguards we have now put in place will ensure that nothing like this will happen again, and that good corporate governance is adhered to at all times.”
