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RTÉ caved in repeatedly to Ryan Tubridy demands as agent Noel Kelly came ‘chasing payment’

Leading politicians unimpressed by the response of broadcaster

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RTÉ bosses have failed to take the heat out of the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal with a statement pointing most of the blame at former director general Dee Forbes.

Their lengthy statement, which showed the broadcaster repeatedly caved in to pay demands from Tubridy’s agent, was met with “alarm” and “astonishment” in political circles.

The credibility of RTÉ management’s claim that only Ms Forbes could have known that publicly declared pay figures for the star were understated is set to be a central line of questioning at an Oireachtas committee meeting today.

Members of the Oireachtas Media Committee, who will question RTÉ executives, were unimpressed last night by the version of events presented.

Amid widespread political disquiet over the contents of RTÉ’s statement, one senior minister told the Irish Independent the broadcaster’s latest account raised further questions. “‘Dee Forbes did it’ seems to be the mantra, but I am not sure that cuts it,” they added.

The chair of the Public Accounts Committee said the claim Ms Forbes was the only person to know about the hidden payments to Mr Tubridy was “absolutely ridiculous”.

Deputy Brian Stanley, who will chair a PAC hearing on the matter tomorrow, said the Grant Thornton report and RTÉ statement released yesterday showed other people had knowledge of the payments.

Audit of a scandal: How the Ryan Tubridy RTÉ payments furore unfurled

“The idea that Dee Forbes was in her office at the top of the tree and could move €345,000 around without the knowledge of people down along the chain, or other heads of sections in RTÉ is absolutely ridiculous,” Mr Stanley said on RTÉ’s Primetime.

Numerous people from the station’s financial and legal departments were involved in negotiating Tubridy’s pay deal, but yesterday RTÉ squarely blamed Ms Forbes for the debacle, which saw more than 100 staff picket their workplace yesterday.

RTÉ said there was “no illegality” involved in the €345,000 undeclared payments to star presenter Tubridy.

It has also emerged that RTÉ paid the cost of hosting a commercial sponsor event in 2022. These payments were recorded in the barter account at a value of €47,477.

The broadcaster made two payments of €75,000 to Tubridy last year. The money was intended to come from Renault, which sponsored The Late Late Show. When the company chose not to renew the deal with Tubridy, RTÉ was on the hook for the money. The broadcaster made the payments through a “barter account” as it had already been underwritten and guaranteed.

Documents released by RTÉ say there was “significant pushback” by the broadcaster against Tubridy’s agent during discussions that led to the station guaranteeing the extra €75,000 payment in the event a sponsor was unwilling to pay. When the commercial partner pulled out, Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly came “chasing payment” from RTÉ for two sums of €75,000.

Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon said the fact RTÉ agreed to underwrite a commercial pay deal with Renault “despite car sales falling off a cliff edge thanks to the worldwide pandemic is astonishing”.

Fianna Fáil senator Malcolm Byrne questioned whether anybody in charge of commercial or financial affairs at RTÉ had any input in the Tubridy deal.

“Dee Forbes indicated that she did not go against any advice. Therefore, who negotiated the deals with Noel Kelly and who signed off on them? Who else was in the room? The RTÉ executive board seem to imply only she had full knowledge. Did nobody in charge of commercial and financial affairs have any input?”

Labour senator Marie Sherlock said she was alarmed at RTÉ’s statement because the idea that only Ms Forbes knew the full picture “is simply not credible”.

The national broadcaster yesterday published most of accountants Grant Thornton’s review into Tubridy’s earnings and has set out its understanding of the circumstances surrounding the public misstating of his salary.

Ms Forbes took a direct role in negotiating Tubridy’s contract in 2020. During a Microsoft Teams meeting in May 2020 between Tubridy’s agent, Ms Forbes and an RTÉ solicitor, a verbal guarantee was given that RTÉ would underwrite the commercial agreement worth €75,000 a year to the presenter.

10 things we learned from RTÉ’s statement

RTÉ’s interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch said: “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.

“The contractual arrangements (2020-2025) with Ryan Tubridy were negotiated by the director general and the then chief financial officer supported by the RTÉ solicitor and approved by the director general.”

Grant Thornton’s review of the payment makes no finding of wrongdoing on the part of Tubridy in relation to any payments made by RTÉ.

“Ryan Tubridy was not aware of the credit note provided by RTÉ to the commercial partner,” it says.

NK Management, a firm headed by Mr Kelly, negotiated a new contract for Tubridy in 2020. There were “in effect two contracts” – a five-year contract between the broadcaster and the presenter and a tri-partite agreement between the presenter, the commercial sponsor Renault and RTÉ.

The final deal included a letter “stating that there would be no further reduction of fees” during the five-year term unless something legislative was imposed by the Oireachtas.

The tri-partite deal between Renault, the agent and RTÉ was arranged by the broadcaster’s commercial chief at the direction of the director general. The commercial chief said the arrangement was subject to a condition that it be cost-neutral for the commercial partner. While it was still at draft stage, the arrangement was approved by Ms Forbes.

It was implemented by means of a credit note, issued on the direction of the director general.

It was agreed that the broadcaster would underwrite the terms of the commercial arrangement.

“This final aspect had been sought by the agent throughout the negotiations and there had been significant pushback by RTÉ,” said the statement.

NK Management has previously said there “is no issue whatsoever in relation to the payments being properly and lawfully due”.

“These issues are solely concerned with RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment and public declarations in respect of such lawful payments,” the company said.

During a routine audit of RTÉ’s 2022 accounts, an issue was identified in “the transparency of certain payments” resulting in Grant Thornton being commissioned to carry out an independent review of the matter. The payments were accounted for via an invoice, described as “consultancy fees”.

Grant Thornton found: “On the balance of probabilities, the description on the invoices, ‘Consultancy Fees’ did not reflect the substance of the transactions.” It said neither NK Management nor Tubridy provided consultancy.

A spokesperson for Ms Forbes said she had no further comment. Mr Kelly did not reply to requests for comment.

The report came after more than 100 members of RTE staff staged a protest at the broadcaster’s campus at Donnybrook in Dublin.

NUJ Dublin broadcasting chair Emma O Kelly said she hoped the protest would be the start of “serious root-and-branch reform” in the organisation.