Two Oireachtas committees are facing pushback from former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes in their efforts to investigate hidden payments to presenter Ryan Tubridy.
RTÉ endured yet another day of drama yesterday, which saw Ms Forbes resign and three of its most prominent presenters – Claire Byrne, Joe Duffy and Miriam O’Callaghan – publicly insisting that the national broadcaster had declared their pay in full.
However, RTÉ is still struggling to explain how it issued misleading statements for years about how much it paid Tubridy, the former Late Late Show host.
The RTÉ board has promised to provide a “comprehensive statement” today regarding how it issued incorrect declarations on Tubridy’s pay from 2020 to last year. However, the statement will not explain the under-reporting of his pay between 2017 and 2019, because it remains the subject of a separate review by accountants.
Stepping down abruptly in her final month in the role, Ms Forbes raised fresh questions about the 2017-2019 period by saying she had no knowledge of €120,000 of undeclared Tubridy payments even though she was director general at the time.
There was no comment on the affair from Noel Curran, Ms Forbes’s predecessor as director general. “The financial transactions and arrangements being discussed in recent days post-date my time at RTÉ and I have no comment to make,” he said.
Ms Forbes said she did not act alone on Tubridy’s disputed 2020 pay deal, and that she conducted talks on the arrangement “together with other RTÉ senior executives”.
Although the broadcaster’s board has said it knew nothing of the hidden payments, Ms Forbes said the arrangement was concluded “after numerous internal communications over many months” with RTÉ finance and legal colleagues, among others.
The Tubridy payment scandal: what happens next?
The Oireachtas Arts and Media committee and the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee each want to hear from Ms Forbes directly at hearings this week, when they question senior RTÉ executives about the debacle.
Ms Forbes, who said the affair has taken a “very serious and ongoing” toll on her health, is considered unlikely to attend. There was no comment from her spokesman last night when asked whether she will accept invitations to Leinster House.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar and Tánaiste Micheál Martin have said Ms Forbes should go before the committees. “I think people would like to hear her side of the story and her version of events. It’s still open for her to attend the committee hearings, and I believe she should,” Mr Varadkar said.
[ RTE pay controversy: How the national broadcaster is structuredOpens in new window ]
The Coalition party leaders discussed outline terms of reference for a promised Government review of RTÉ governance at their weekly pre-Cabinet meeting last night.
Outlining the scale of this exercise, an informed source said it will assess whether RTÉ’s governance framework is fit for purpose, and will review its approach to financial management. That will include the use of barter accounts, commercial agencies and representative agents.
It will also review the workplace culture in RTÉ and relations between senior management and staff.
A swift conclusion to the review is unlikely after Mr Varadkar said the work will continue for “a few months”. Minister for Media Catherine Martin will brief the Cabinet today and agreement on formal terms of reference is expected within a week or two.
As the political clamour for RTÉ accountability intensifies, presenters Byrne, Duffy and O’Callaghan each said their pay was correctly declared by RTÉ.
Byrne’s pay dropped from €350,000 to €280,000 after the Claire Byrne Live television show ended. Duffy said he received €351,000 for the Liveline radio show and other television work. O’Callaghan said her annual fee was €263,500.
