Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the outgoing director-general of RTÉ should still appear before Oireachtas committees examining corporate governance at the national broadcaster after she resigned following the scandal over undisclosed payments to star presenter Ryan Tubridy.
Dee Forbes was suspended from the position last week and was already due to step down from her role next month.
In a statement, Ms Forbes said: “I regret very much the upset and adverse publicity suffered by RTÉ, its staff and the unease created among the public in recent days.
“As director-general, I am the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation and I take that responsibility seriously.
“I am tendering my resignation to RTÉ with immediate effect.”
Her resignation follows the revelation that Tubridy was paid several hundred thousand euro more than RTÉ had previously declared.
RTÉ apologised last week after admitting that between 2017 and 2022 former Late Late Show host Tubridy received a series of payments totalling €345,000 above his annual published salary.
Ms Forbes said she had consistently co-operated with the processes directed towards answering questions surrounding payments to Tubridy.
Speaking to reporters during an event at Dublin Castle, Mr Varadkar said: “I think people would like to hear her side of the story and her version of events.
“It is still open to her to attend the committee hearings and I think she should.”
He said he was “very disappointed” about the RTÉ payments scandal but has confidence in the broadcaster’s board.
The Government has initiated a “thorough review of the governance of RTÉ” and has suspended work on reforming the TV licence in the interim.
Mr Varadkar added: “I do want to point out that RTÉ is a big organisation, the vast majority of people who work in RTE would have no knowledge or involvement in this whatsoever and indeed the board would have only known about it relatively recently.
“We need to make sure we don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater here.”
Mr Varadkar said there is a need for individual accountability over the matter.
On the negotiations for the controversial payments, Ms Forbes said in her statement: “I did not at any stage act contrary to any advice.
“We were motivated purely by the need to find a solution to honour the contractual obligation.
“At all times, I and the representatives of RTÉ acted in good faith. I fully accept and acknowledge responsibility for my part in these events as director-general.”
Ms Forbes said RTÉ began discussions around the renewal of Tubridy’s contract in early 2020, which contained payments that had been negotiated and put in place prior to her arrival at the broadcaster.
RTÉ had committed to reducing fees paid to top talent by 15 per cent.
“As director-general, I led the discussions with the agent for Ryan Tubridy together with other RTÉ senior executives.”
The agreement meant a commercial partner would enter into a separate commercial contract with Tubridy for €75,000 in exchange for the provision of three events annually.
RTÉ guaranteed and underwrote the payments.
She said 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 75,000 euro payment had been made.
“Payment was sought for the 2021 and 2022 contractual commitments that now fell to RTÉ under the guarantee 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.
“At all times, I and the representatives of RTÉ acted in good faith. I fully accept and acknowledge responsibility for my part in these events as director-general.
“This statement is directed to the events of 2020-2022. I understand from media reports and RTÉ’s statement that the board has raised questions concerning payments to Ryan Tubridy between 2017-2019.
“I have no knowledge of those payments and the board has not raised those questions with me.”
She later added: “I want to reiterate that I have engaged fully with the board during this process.
“However, the 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.
“I am deeply sorry for what has happened and my part in this episode and for that I apologise unreservedly to everyone.
“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.”
A Government review of the RTÉ funding model has been ongoing but a final decision on the outcome has been paused pending the completion of an external review of governance and culture at the broadcaster, which was ordered at the weekend.
On Saturday, a senior executive emailed staff at RTÉ to apologise and inform them that new contracts have been paused pending the implementation of further oversight measures.
Following further weekend media scrutiny, in particular over its financial arrangements with advertising partners, RTÉ issued a statement on Sunday insisting it was legally compliant in respect of how it operates commission and volume discounts with media ad buying agencies.
Media Minister Catherine Martin announced the external review on Saturday after meeting the chairwoman of the RTÉ board, Siun Ni Raghallaigh, in Dublin.
Ms Martin warned that the scale of the issues facing RTÉ was verging on an “existential crisis” and a “root and branch” review was required.
Executives from the broadcaster have been invited to appear before two separate parliamentary committees in Dublin in the week ahead.
On Friday, Tubridy “apologised unreservedly” for not asking questions when RTÉ published incorrect figures for his earnings.
He said he would not be presenting his daily radio show on RTÉ Radio One this week.
On Saturday, interim deputy director general at RTÉ Adrian Lynch apologised to staff at the broadcaster.
