Ryan Tubridy previously spoke about how he was willing to take wage cuts at RTE as he believed in the organisation a few years ago.
On Thursday RTE apologised for a “serious breach of trust with the public“ after it emerged that hidden payments of almost €350,000 were paid to top presenter Ryan Tubridy over a period of five years.
In a statement, the RTE board said that between 2017 and 2022, Mr Tubridy received a series of payments totalling €345,000 above his annual published salary, which were not declared to the public and the Oireachtas.
The payments were uncovered after the company's auditors alerted the board to some of the transactions.
Back in 2019 Tubridy spoke at length about how he had taken two pay cuts during his time as The Late Late Show presenter.
Speaking in 2019 he said: “I’ve taken a pay cut before. I took over 30% the last time and they’ve asked for more again which will bring it up to about 45% or (so) since I took the Late Late Show.
“When it comes to this sort of issue, that’s not something I’ve ever been found wanting in and that continues to be the case, yeah.”
During the interview with the Irish Mirror in 2019 he said he still believed in the importance of the State broadcaster.
He said: “Some of the great programmes and documentaries in news service and entertaining programmes are there and I think they are a very important part of the national identity, the national fabric, the tapestry of who we are. And I would hate that import to be lost in the fog of unhappiness for other reasons.
"So I believe in RTE and I think that if it was to disappear tomorrow I think it would be a sad day. Imagine there was no RTE after Gay Byrne died and you depended on a tweet to say well done and sorry to see he is gone."
Tubs’ salary fell by 31% from €723,000 to €495,000 in 2013.
A statement released by RTE on Thursday evening said that a review found that under a separate agreement Mr Tubridy was guaranteed by RTÉ an additional annual income of €75,000 which was intended to come from a commercial partner.
One of the payments came from a commercial partner of the station, in exchange for a number of personal appearances a year.
"As part of this agreement, RTÉ 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 statement said.
"The commercial partner did not renew this agreement for a second year, and since the agreement was guaranteed and underwritten by RTÉ, the payments were instead made directly by RTÉ to Mr Tubridy's agent (on his behalf)."
As a result Mr Tubridy received two payments of €75,000, totalling €150,000 in 2022 for that year and the previous year.
These payments were recorded in what is known as a "barter account", which are commonly used in the marketing and advertising sector to enable goods or services to be exchanged for money.
The statement also said that further investigations had revealed that between 2017 and 2019, Mr Tubridy received a total of €120,000 more in payments from the station than had been previously publicly stated.
The reasons for these payments are currently under investigation, it added. The RTÉ Board said that as a result of the developments, it is necessary for it to correct the public record in relation to Mr Tubridy's earnings from RTÉ during the period 2017-2022.
"The RTÉ Board considers the public mis-stating of RTÉ's financial information to be a very serious matter and has moved as quickly as it could, once it had independently established the facts, to publish the correct figures," it said.
The statement added that the board has conducted an internal review of the reporting of the remuneration of its top 10 most highly paid on-air presenters and this has found that the full cost to RTÉ of its contracts with the other such on-air presenters has been correctly reported.
"The Board is committed to ensuring that there is appropriate accountability for what has occurred," it said.
"That process is ongoing, mindful of individuals' rights, and affording them due process."
Ryan Tubridy was missing from his RTE Radio One slot today with comedian Oliver Callan standing in his place.
