Presenter Ryan Tubridy has “apologised unreservedly” for not asking questions when RTE published incorrect figures for his earnings.
Tubridy also revealed that he would not be presenting his daily radio show next week as the national broadcaster reels from the controversy over the misreporting of its star presenter’s salary.
Earlier on Friday the director general of RTE Dee Forbes was suspended and the National Union of Journalists called for a wide independent inquiry into RTE’s corporate governance.
Irish premier Leo Varadkar has expressed his concern at what he said appears to have been a “serious breach of trust and truth” between RTE and the Government, and the people.
Minister for Media Catherine Martin is set to meet with RTE board chair Siun Ni Raghallaigh on Saturday.
Mr Varadkar added: “The Government considers it essential that we have the highest standards of governance, accountability and transparency from RTE and will consider what further action may be required.
“All of the matters involved will have to be examined and, perhaps, remedial steps taken to restore trust and confidence.”
On Friday evening, RTE interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch described a “massive breach of trust with the public and our staff”.
“It’s a corporate governance issue of significant proportions and RTE staff are outraged by this, they have the public interest at the centre of their job every day,” he told RTE Television’s Six One news programme.
Mr Lynch said a process is under way, and he expects it to be completed within days rather than weeks.
He also said he was not in a position to say when Tubridy might be back to presenting his radio show.
In a statement, Tubridy said: “RTE’s accounting treatment and publication of payments made to me between 2017 and 2022 contained serious errors.
“While I have no responsibility for the corporate governance in RTE or how or what they publish in their accounts, when my earnings were published I should have asked questions at the time and sought answers as to the circumstances which resulted in incorrect figures being published.
“I didn’t, and I bear responsibility for my failure to do so.
“For this, I apologise unreservedly.”
The former Late Late Show host added: “At the centre of all of this is trust. The trust of colleagues in RTE and the trust of a great many people who listen to my show.
“To them, I wholeheartedly apologise for my error of judgement.
“Separately, it has been reported that I did not take a pay cut over the last number of years. This is simply not true.
I am disappointed that RTE has decided that for editorial reasons I should not broadcast my radio show next week— Ryan Tubridy
“Over the period of my contract with RTE, I have been asked to take several reductions in salary and I did. Indeed, between 2012 and today, my pay from RTE was cut by approximately 40%.
“I also wish to respond to suggestions that this issue had some bearing on my decision to step down from hosting the Late Late Show. It did not.
“Finally, I am disappointed that RTE has decided that for editorial reasons I should not broadcast my radio show next week.
“I look forward to returning to the radio show, a job I love, as soon as possible and I hope my listeners and my colleagues appreciate my sincerity on this.”
The latest statement came a day after RTE apologised as it admitted Tubridy, its top earner and highest-profile presenter, had been paid several hundred thousand euro more than it had previously declared.
The RTE board said that between 2017 and 2022, he received a series of payments totalling 345,000 euro (£295,000) above his annual published salary.
Ms Forbes, who was already due to step down from her role next month, was suspended on Wednesday, the RTE board announced on Friday.
In a statement, Ms Forbes said: “I have been fully engaged with the (RTE) Board since this matter arose in the course of the audit of the accounts.
“When asked in April 2023, I participated in the review conducted by Grant Thornton to determine the full circumstances and facts surrounding two specific payments to fulfil a contractual obligation for the years 2021 and 2022.
“Yesterday was an extremely difficult day for all of us who care so deeply about the organisation and the impact of these issues is a matter of profound regret.”
Culture Minister Catherine Martin welcomed the announcement of the suspension of the director general for the “sake of transparency”.
In a further statement on Friday, the RTE board said: “The RTE board confirms that Dee Forbes, the director general, was suspended from her employment on Wednesday June 21.
“There are processes ongoing and RTE must be mindful of its legal responsibilities and the rights of individuals.
“RTE will not be commenting further on this issue at this time.”
Speaking to the media on Friday, Ms Martin said: “I want to know what actions are going to be taken, what processes will be put in place to make sure that this never happens again.
“I do believe it raises concerns in relation to the broader transparency and governance of this organisation.
“Public service broadcasting is so important to society, to democracy, and there is no doubt that damage has been done here.
“Trust has been damaged with the public, but I would say there is a lot of damage has been done to the staff, and that is something the board needs to work on, rebuilding the trust.”
Regarding the suspension of Ms Forbes, the minister added: “I think for the sake of transparency it is good that announcement has been made, that clarity is given that that suspension has taken place.”
Ms Martin said she became aware in March that an issue had been discovered in the RTE audit, but only became aware that it involved Tubridy on Wednesday.
She said: “What I was told in March was that an issue had arisen in the routine annual audit and that the need to do a fact-finding review to establish the actual facts around this.
“That is all I knew in March.”
Ireland’s deputy premier Micheal Martin said the misreporting of Tubridy’s salary represented a serious “breach of trust”.
Speaking to reporters in Galway on Friday, Mr Martin said: “First of all, there’s huge shock and surprise at what has transpired in terms of the manner of this. I think we need more clarification.”
On Thursday, RTE revealed that during a routine audit of 2022 accounts in late March, an issue was identified in relation to the “transparency of certain payments”.
In mid-March, Tubridy announced he was quitting as host of the flagship Late Late Show after 14 years. Comedian Paddy Kielty has since been appointed as his replacement.
Following the discovery in the 2022 accounts, RTE appointed an external auditor to carry out an independent fact-finding review.
Tubridy’s previously published remunerations for 2020 and 2021 show he earned 466,250 (£398,500) euro and 440,000 euro (£376,000) respectively in those years, which appeared to represent an 11% reduction on his 2019 earnings.
However, under a separate agreement, Tubridy was guaranteed by RTE an additional annual income of 75,000 euro (£64,000) in 2020 which was intended to come from a commercial partner.
The commercial partner fee due to Tubridy was guaranteed and underwritten by RTE.
The commercial partner did not renew the agreement for a second year, and since the agreement was guaranteed by RTE, the payments were instead made directly by RTE to Tubridy’s agent.
The presenter received two further 75,000 euro payments in 2022, which prompted the review.
It was then discovered that Tubridy’s remuneration had been understated by RTE by 120,000 euro (£102,000) over the contract period of 2017-2019.
Tubridy did not host his radio show on Friday morning, with comedian Oliver Callan stepping in.
Callan addressed the payments controversy as he opened the programme.
“It’s Friday – a bit of a weird Friday, I must concede,” he said.
“Clearly this is the last place I expected to be less than 24 hours ago, but here we are, and the reasons are fairly obvious, especially as I get to the review of the newspapers because the usual presenter of the show is the subject of every single front page.
“The wider media, it has to be said, do enjoy a good old RTE scandal – and boy did RTE whip up and serve a cool one for them with a flake on top and sprinkles of shambles.”
NUJ members at RTE organised an emergency meeting on Friday to discuss the controversy.
Irish secretary of the NUJ Seamus Dooley called for a broad investigation into corporate governance issues at RTE.
He said there is “great anger” among RTE members and added that an investigation into industrial relations processes within RTE was also needed.
Mr Dooley said the union was seeking an apology from management to staff as well as a meeting with the trade union group.
