RTE paid Ryan Tubridy over €300,000 more than it declared to the public over a six-year period.
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.
The issues with Tubridy's payments were first detected in March of this year. Tubridy announced that he was stepping down from his role as Late Late Show host on March 16.
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.
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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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