Dee Forbes has resigned as RTÉ director general following the controversy over undeclared payments to Ryan Tubridy.
As director general, she said she is "the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation", and that she has resigned with immediate effect.
Ms Forbes said she has "engaged with and consistently co-operated with the processes directed towards answering questions surrounding payments to Ryan Tubridy".
Last Wednesday, Ms Forbes was suspended after details emerged of the undeclared €345,000 Mr Tubridy had received in payments since 2017.
"I regret very much the upset and adverse publicity suffered by RTÉ," Ms Forbes said in a statement.
She said she engaged fully with Grant Thornton's review of the national broadcaster's finances, before going on to "emphasise" a number of points.
She said negotiations over the renewal of Mr Tubridy's contract had begun in early 2020, including contractual payments that had been agreed prior to her arrival at RTÉ.
Ms Forbes said RTÉ wanted to keep Mr Tubridy as he is a "valued presenter", while also honouring the commitment to reduce fees paid to their "top talent" by 15 per cent.
She said this is where they explored whether a "long serving commercial partner might take on a commercial relationship directly with Ryan Tubridy".
Ms Forbes said it was then agreed that a commercial partner would "enter into a separate commercial contract with Ryan Tubridy for €75k in exchange for the provision of three events annually".
"As a result of the negotiated cost saving agreement, RTÉ would no longer be liable for a contractual payment that was due in 2020. This new commercial agreement required that RTÉ guarantee and underwrite the €75K payments.
"The commercial partner agreed to this new business relationship with Ryan Tubridy, but they required the change to be cost neutral, as they were in the final year of a three-year sponsorship contract and this was done by issuing a credit note for €75k against their airtime.
"I did not at any stage act contrary to any advice. Unfortunately, the pandemic restrictions meant that the commitment to the commercial client could not be met in 2020 and 2021 and was only delivered in 2022. The commercial partner informed us that the commercial arrangement was not going to work for them in the long term. At this point, only one €75k payment had been made."
She said the €75,000 payments for 2021 and 2022 then fell to RTÉ, "even though RTÉ had never expected to become liable for them and had not budgeted for them. Because of the commercial nature of the arrangement, it was decided to pay the invoices from the commercial barter account which was in credit. We were motivated purely by the need to find a solution to honour the contractual obligation".
Ms Forbes said she fully accepted her responsibility for the payments, but had acted in good faith at all times.
She said the RTÉ board "has not treated me with anything approaching the levels of fairness, equity and respect that anyone should expect as an employee, a colleague or a person. All of this has had a very serious and ongoing impact on my health and wellbeing".
Ms Forbes said she is deeply sorry for what happened and her role "in this episode".
She concluded: "I care very deeply about RTÉ, the people who work for it, the public it serves, its mission, values, its unique position as a public service broadcaster and its reputation. I will continue to do so as RTÉ moves forward under the new Director General."
In response to Ms Forbes' resignation, RTÉ issued the following statement: "We acknowledge receipt this morning of correspondence from Dee Forbes confirming her resignation as Director General with immediate effect. We note the contents of her accompanying statement.
"Representatives of the RTÉ Board and Executive will be attending the Joint Oireachtas Committee and Public Accounts Committee this week."
