RTE is embroiled in a salary scandal after it failed to declare €345,000 of secret payments to Ryan Tubridy.
The former Late Late Show host insisted the error had nothing to do with him. He said he was “disappointed”, adding: “This is a matter for RTE and I have no involvement in RTE’s internal accounting.”
The national broadcaster failed to declare it paid Tubs the extra cash between 2017 and 2022.
RTE board chair Siun Ni Raghallaigh apologised for a “serious breach of trust”, after the payments were revealed in an audit.
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Back in February, RTE named its highest-paid presenters at the station in 2020 and 2021 - and Tubridy, 50, topped the list.
The national broadcaster also confirmed its top talent took a 15% pay cut.
At the time, RTE said that dad-of-two Tubridy earned €466,250 in 2020 and €440,00 in 2021.
However, the bombshell payment news that came to light yesterday, means his actual earnings are higher than what was published.
Tubridy was actually paid €522,500 in 2020 and €515,000 in 2021.
It comes as the household name has an astonishing net worth. He is thought to be a multi-millionaire and various websites estimate his net worth to be between €5 million and €7 million.
Yesterday, the RTE board revealed that between 2017 and 2022, Tubridy received a series of payments totalling €345,000 on top of his annual published salary, which were not declared to the public or the Oireachtas.
The payments were uncovered after the company’s auditors alerted the board to some of the transactions.
The RTE statement said a review found under a separate agreement Tubridy was guaranteed by RTE an additional annual income of €75,000 intended to come from a commercial partner. One of the payments came in exchange for a number of personal appearances a year.
The statement read: “As part of this agreement, RTE 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 commercial partner did not renew this agreement for a second year, and since the agreement was guaranteed and underwritten by RTE, the payments were instead made directly by RTE to Mr Tubridy’s agent (on his behalf).”
As a result, the 50-year-old father -of-two 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”, commonly used in the marketing and advertising sector so goods or services can be exchanged for money.
The statement also said 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. The RTE Board said that as a result of the developments, it is necessary for it to correct the public record in relation to Tubridy’s earnings from RTE during the period from 2017 to 2022.
“The RTE Board considers the public misstating of RTE’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.”
The statement added 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 RTE of its contracts with the other such on-air presenters has been correctly reported. It said: “The Board is committed to ensuring that there is appropriate accountability for what has occurred.
“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 RTE’s statement concerning its accounting treatment and public declarations of payments made to Ryan Tubridy.
“These are matters for which RTE 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 RTE’s internal accounting treatment and public declarations in respect of such lawful payments.”
