RTÉ admits paying Ryan Tubridy over €300k more than originally published

RTÉ has publicly acknowledged a 'breach of trust' with the public in relation to the transparency of payments made to presenter Ryan Tubridy over a six-year period

An independent fact-finding review, carried out by Grant Thornton and comissioned by RTÉ, revealed several key points regarding the payments made to Mr Tubridy, including the fact that he was paid €326,250 more than was originally published by RTÉ.

In a statement, the RTÉ board says that in early 2020, discussions began about renewing Mr Tubridy's presenter contract.

The national broadcaster says it was mindful of "achieving cost savings" amid the organisation's wider financial circumstances and was committed (at the time) to reducing the fees paid to its top 10 highest-earning on-air presenters by 15% as part of a range of measures announced in November 2019.

Mr Tubridy's previously published salary for 2020 and 2021 indicated a decrease of 11% compared to his 2019 earnings.

However, the review highlighted a separate agreement in which RTÉ guaranteed Mr Tubridy an additional annual income of €75,000, which was intended to come from a commercial partner.

RTÉ ensured that the agreement was cost neutral for the commercial partner, and the fee due to Mr Tubridy was guaranteed and underwritten by RTÉ.

Under the terms of this agreement, Mr Tubridy received a payment of €75,000 in July 2020 from the commercial partner, in exchange for a number of personal appearances per year.

RTÉ issued a credit note to the commercial partner, reducing its overall sponsorship costs. As the commercial partner did not renew the agreement for a second year, RTÉ made the payments directly to Mr Tubridy's agent in 2022, totaling €150,000. 

In addition to the findings of the Grant Thornton review, RTÉ conducted a review of Mr Tubridy's previously stated remunerations.

It was discovered that his salary had been understated by €120,000 over the contract period of 2017-2019. The circumstances leading to this understatement are currently being examined.

As a result, RTÉ says it is taking steps to correct the public record regarding Mr Tubridy's earnings between 2017 and 2022.

The corrected figures indicate that Mr Tubridy's earnings in 2019 amounted to €545,000, while in 2021, they reached €515,000, representing an overall reduction of 5.5% compared to his 2019 earnings.

The Board of RTÉ, which met earlier this week, says it considers the misstating of financial information to be a serious matter.

The board says it swiftly moved to publish the correct figures as soon as the independent facts were established. In order to ensure accountability and prevent similar incidents from occurring, RTÉ has initiated several measures.

These include: conducting an internal review of contracts for the top 10 highest-earning on-air presenters, which has been completed; initiating an external, independent review of reported remuneration for the top 10 highest-earning on-air presenters, to be conducted by Grant Thornton; republishing Mr Tubridy's remunerations since 2017 to rectify the record; halting new material on-air presenter contracts until proper oversight and approval mechanisms, including the Remuneration Committee of the Board, are implemented for the top 10 highest-earning presenters, and Placing the Barter Account under the control of the Finance function and implementing specific controls for its operation.

Chair of the RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh commented: "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."