A bombshell announcement from the new boss of the national broadcaster that RTÉ would not be continuing negotiations for star presenter Ryan Tubridy to return to his radio programme arose out of a dispute over the published figures of his previous earnings.
Director-general Kevin Bakhurst said “there was an issue” during the talks about Mr Tubridy’s need to accept his role in a hugely damaging scandal that has engulfed RTÉ.
However, the former Late Late Show host and his agent Noel Kelly have maintained throughout the widening controversy that the additional payments in question were distinct from Mr Tubridy’s core RTÉ work.
Mr Tubridy was taken off air in June after when it was disclosed that the broadcaster had under-reported his earnings over a number of years.
He remained in negotiations with Mr Bakhurst, who took up the position after the scandal became public, until this week.
The director-general said Mr Tubridy, 50, who was RTÉ’s highest-paid star, was due to return to his radio show and start a new podcast from September.
However, he pulled the plug on the talks in response to a contentious statement from Mr Tubridy.
He had issued a statement about his 2020 and 2021 earnings after a highly-anticipated report into his fees was published on Wednesday.
In a statement published through a representative, he said: “It is also clear that my actual income from RTE in 2020 and 2021 matches what was originally published as my earnings for those years.”
This jarred with RTÉ’s decision to upwardly revise the publicly stated figure for his payments for these years.
In February, RTÉ said Mr Tubridy earned €466,250 in 2020 and €440,000 in 2021.
In June, after the board became aware of the details of a commercial arrangement the two parties entered into with Renault, RTÉ updated these figures to €522,500 and €515,000 respectively.
Mr Bakhurst sought clarification from Mr Tubridy’s lawyers over Wednesday’s statement.
His solicitors are understood to have told the director-general that Mr Tubridy was not attempting to suggest that the restated figures were incorrect, but rather that the original figures matched what he was actually paid directly through RTÉ’s normal payroll system and outside of the commercial arrangement.
Mr Bakhurst said he was “particularly disappointed” with Mr Tubridy’s statement, suggesting he was not accepting his portion of blame and ultimately ended the negotiations.
“I feel there was an issue throughout about the need to accept your role in what has been a hugely damaging scandal for everybody involved, and particularly for RTÉ, who need to take the vast majority blame,” he said.
“But there are others, including Ryan and his team, who should take some of the blame and take some responsibility.”
However, Mr Tubridy’s position on the 2020 and 2021 figures also arose much earlier during marathon Oireachtas committee sessions in July.
The presenter told members of the media committee the issue was among “seven material untruths” relating to his remuneration.
In fact, Mr Tubridy said RTÉ had made “over-declarations” of what he was actually paid in 2020 and 2021.
“This has caused justifiable anger among my colleagues. I understand their anger.
“The upshot of RTE’s inaccurate declarations is an impression that I have been less than honest. This is not the case.”
The core issue is a commercial agreement arranged by RTÉ with key sponsor Renault which involved the car company directly paying Mr Tubridy to appear at its corporate events.
Renault made the first payment as planned but later pulled out of the deal during Covid-19.
The agreement was cost-neutral to Renault as RTÉ had reimbursed it with a credit note.
The broadcaster had also agreed to underwrite the payments to Mr Tubridy in the event that a commercial partner could not be found and, as a result, two other payments were made to him through a UK barter company known as Astus.
Mr Tubridy went on to tell the committee that the tripartite arrangement was a “separate commercial agreement”.
“It was meant to be a separate contract but the whole thing got muddled,” he said.
Due to his consideration of the matter as a separate agreement, as well as the payments coming from Renault and Astus rather than RTÉ, Mr Tubridy maintained the original figures for his fees from the broadcaster which were published in February were correct.
“We thought it was a side agreement. It was a totally different agreement entirely.
“It was an independent contractor agreement that Renault was paying for. That was the understanding. That is what I was told and I had to accept that for what it is.”
His agent, Noel Kelly, told the media committee: “Mr Tubridy was doing events for Renault, not for RTÉ.
“Renault is the sponsor. He was doing events for Renault. We were paid by Renault.
“We understood this money would be paid by Renault, and there are still two years of events owed for Renault.”
Mr Kelly, who said he believed Astus was a division of Renault, later added: “It was a completely separate contract for services.”
After mothballing Mr Tubridy’s return to his radio programme, Mr Bakhurst said that to question final reports into the under-declaration of the fees was “counter-productive”.
“We can’t be going around in circles arguing about this,” he said.
However, the director-general accepted on Friday there is “a danger” and “a risk” of legal action after the abrupt end of the talks.
