RTÉ star presenter Ryan Tubridy has said he wants to re-establish trust with listeners as he welcomed the publication of a highly-anticipated report into his earnings between 2017 and 2019.
Tubridy, who had been the station’s highest-paid employee prior to his decision to leave his role presenting the flagship Late Late Show earlier this year, has also not been featuring on his daily morning radio show in the wake of the scandal which emerged over the under-reporting of his earnings and the underwriting of a deal involving the host and a commercial partner.
RTÉ has been mired in a deepening controversy since the story involving mis-stated figures arose in June, with the Government launching reviews into governance and culture at the national broadcaster.
An initial review into the functioning of the commercial arrangement, which was carried out by auditors Grant Thornton, found no wrongdoing on the part of Tubridy.
On Wednesday, a second Grant Thornton review also found neither Tubridy nor his agent Noel Kelly had any part in the separate issue of RTÉ’s financial department under-reporting his earnings for a three-year period.
In the national broadcaster’s regular publication of its highest-paid on-air talent, Tubridy’s earnings were under declared by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019.
His earnings were stated by RTÉ as €491,667 for 2017, €495,000 in 2018 and €495,000 in 2019 when his fees were actually €511,667, €545,000 and €545,000 respectively.
This was a retrospective accounting practice relating to Tubridy’s decision to waive a €120,000 end-of-contract fee in 2020.
However, the Grant Thornton report published on Wednesday said there was no document to explain why this fee was split across 2017-2019 in the manner which it was.
It determined, on the balance of probabilities, this was a measure designed to keep Tubridy’s publicly-stated earnings at the national broadcaster below €500,000 per year.
Tubridy has said he wishes to return to presenting his radio programme but new RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst has yet to make a decision about his future.
In a statement through a media-relations firm, Tubridy said he welcomed the findings of the report – including that he did not claim €120,000 in fees due to him at the end of 2020 and that he did not agree with how RTÉ proposed to account for this.
Tubridy said: “I repeat my offer to publish the details of any future RTÉ contract.
“I am committed to re-establishing the confidence and trust of my colleagues and listeners, and I hope that any fair assessment of the findings of today’s report will help in this regard.”
He added: “I want to acknowledge the huge support that I have received in recent weeks from people across the country; many cards and letters, greetings on the street and words of support from people I bumped into meant an awful lot to me and I appreciate them all very much.”
The chair of the broadcaster’s board said she was glad the report stated that neither Tubridy nor his agent had any “hand, act or part” in the understatement of the presenter’s earnings.
Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One radio programme, Siun Ni Raghallaigh said the matter of Tubridy’s return to the organisation was a matter for Mr Bakhurst and the day-to-day running of the station was not part of the board’s obligations.
She said: “From what I can gather, and I’m looking at the same as everybody else, it seems to be like almost a 50:50 split of people’s opinions on this.
“Really, we have to let things run their course. It’s a decision for the director-general at the end of the day. That’s ultimately his decision.”
When asked whether she would like to see a decision made on Tubridy’s future at the organisation sooner rather than later, she said: “Yes, of course.”
In total, the station had underdeclared fees to Tubridy by €345,000 from the years 2017 to 2022.
The under-declaration of €225,000 over the years 2020-2022 was related to RTÉ’s decision to underwrite payments, which effectively resulted in the publicly-funded broadcaster stumping up to cover costs legally due to Tubridy.
Three €75,000 annual payments were received by Tubridy for proposed public appearances for Renault as part of a tripartite agreement involving the sponsor, RTÉ and the presenter.
RTE issued a €75,000 credit note to Renault for the first year in exchange for the motoring company paying Tubridy in 2020.
In years two and three of the arrangement, when Renault was no longer involved, RTÉ paid Tubridy from its own funds using a UK-based commercial barter account. These payments were made in 2022.
This matter was examined under the earlier review and the second Grant Thornton report found no other issues with Tubridy’s pay over the period of 2020-2022.
Accordingly, RTE issued an upward correction of his earnings for this period in June, after initially omitting the fees for the commercial arrangement when it published the top-10 list for 2020 and 2021 in February.
It added amounts relating to the commercial deal to his 2020-2022 earnings.
However, in his statement on Wednesday, Tubridy said: “It is also clear that my actual income from RTÉ in 2020 and 2021 matches what was originally published as my earnings for those years and RTE has not yet published its top-10 earner details for 2022.”
Tubridy has been asked to clarify his remark regarding what he considers to be the “originally published” earnings.
