The Government does not "believe that it is credible" that only former RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes knew about the pay arrangements put in place for Ryan Tubridy, the Taoiseach has said.
Leo Varadkar also said that it is "not satisfactory" that RTÉ has stated that a Grant Thornton review examining why additional payments were made to Mr Tubridy between 2017 and 2019 will take four weeks.
He made the comments as a lengthy statement suggested that "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".
However, the statement also noted that other people, including lawyers, the then-Chief Financial Officer and the Commercial Director were all involved in the discussions in some shape or form.
During Leaders’ Questions, Sinn Féin’s Pearse Doherty told the Taoiseach that while the former Director General was responsible for the arrangement, "she wasn't the only one whose knowledge of taxpayers’ money had been spent without recourse to the board".
He also criticised the fact that RTÉ has stated that a separate Grant Thornton review into undeclared money paid to Mr Tubridy between 2017 and 2019 will not be ready for four weeks.
In response, the Taoiseach agreed that more people knew information about the arrangements put in place for the former Late Late Show host.
Mr Varadkar said: "RTÉ has provided an update that a further Grant Thornton review in relation to the 2017 to 2019 period will be concluded within four weeks. We do not believe that that timeline is satisfactory and have asked that the report be provided more quickly than that.
"While the RTE statements from yesterday (Tuesday) shed some light on what has transpired, a lot of questions remain open.
"We expect to see a full and open engagement at the Oireachtas committees today and tomorrow.
"Certainly, we do not believe it is credible that the former DG Dee Forbes was the only person with knowledge of these events.
"Government and the public expect nothing but full and open transparency from RTÉ executives and board members when they attend committees of these Houses today and tomorrow."
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