Ryan Tubridy has said he 'cannot shed any light' on undeclared payments made to him by RTE.
RTE has confirmed it paid Tubridy an additional €345,000 than declared publicly between 2017 and 2022. Minister for Arts Catherine Martin will meet with RTE on Monday to discuss the issue.
Tubridy has now released a statement on the matter. He said he was "disappointed" to find himself at the centre of the story but insisted responsibility lies with RTE.
The 50-year-old said: "Like many people, I’m surprised by the announcements made in RTE’s statement today regarding the errors in the reporting of its accounts. It is unfortunate that these errors are in relation to how RTE have reported payments made to me but I just want to be clear: this is a matter for RTE and I have no involvement in RTE’s internal accounting treatment or RTE’s public declarations in connection with such payments."
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The presenter added he could not provide answers on RTE's mistakes. The state broadcaster has carried out investigations on its other top earners but found no similar inaccuracies with pay.
Tubridy's agent NK Management added: "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."
In a statement issued today, the national broadcaster said that the former Late Late Show host received €345,000 more in payments than what was declared publicly between 2017 and 2022. An independent review by Grant Thornton - commissioned by RTE's Audit and Risk committee - found that Tudridy was guaranteed an additional income of €75,000, which was supposed to come from a commercial partner of RTE, but this was only paid by the partner for one year.
Tubridy's total earnings for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 were understated by €120,000, and his earnings for the years 2020-2022 were understated due to the payments which went through the Barter Account. RTE conducted similar reviews for its other top 10 earners after the issues surrounding Tubridy's earnings were revealed, and no issues or inaccuracies were found.
Tubridy entered negotiations for renewing his RTE contract in early 2020, where RTE was focused primarily on cost-saving and were attempting to reduce the top 10 most highly paid on air presenters' payments, the report stated. It continues: "Mr Tubridy’s previously published remunerations for 2020 and 2021 show that he earned €466,250 and €440,000 respectively across those years, which by 2021 (first full year on new contract) appeared to represent an 11 per cent reduction on his 2019 earnings.
"The review conducted by Grant Thornton concerned a separate agreement under which Mr Tubridy was guaranteed by RTE an additional annual income of €75,000 which was intended to come from a commercial partner. In making an agreement with the commercial partner, RTE concluded it on a cost neutral basis to the commercial partner, and the fee due to Mr Tubridy was guaranteed and underwritten by RTE.
"Accordingly, under the terms of this agreement, a payment of €75,000 was received by Mr. Tubridy in July 2020 from a commercial partner, in exchange for a number of personal appearances a year. 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). Mr Tubridy received two payments of €75,000 (totalling €150,000), each in 2022 (being a payment for 2021 and a payment for 2022). It was these payments that prompted the review by Grant Thornton.
"These payments were recorded in the RTE Barter Account in 2022 at a value of €115,380 each. In addition and following the furnishing of the findings of the Grant Thornton review, RTE carried out a review of Mr Tubridy’s previously stated remunerations.
"Through this review, it was identified that Mr. Tubridy’s remuneration had been understated by RTÉ by a figure of €120,000 over the contract period of 2017-2019. The circumstances that led to this understatement by RTÉ are currently under examination."
Chair of the RTE Board Siun Ní Raghallaigh said; “This is a matter of profound regret for the Board of RTE. 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."
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