RTÉ must put full facts over Tubridy payments into public domain, Minister says

By Jonathan McCambridge and Rebecca Black, PA

RTÉ must urgently put the full facts over undisclosed payments made to star presenter Ryan Tubridy into the public domain to avoid further damaging public confidence, Minister for Media and Culture Catherine Martin has said.

It came as a staff protest was being held at RTÉ headquarters in Donnybrook at lunchtime in response to growing anger over the spiralling controversy at the public service broadcaster.

RTÉ has said it will publish “as much as possible” of an external review into undisclosed payments made to Mr Tubridy later on Tuesday.

Questions have intensified around the €345,000 worth of undisclosed payments made between 2017 and 2022 to former Late Late Show host since the affair was made public last week.

It has prompted the Government to order an external review into governance and culture at the broadcaster, and RTÉ executives are due before two parliamentary committees this week to answer questions from TDs and senators.

Former RTÉ boss Dee Forbes resigned as director general on Monday.

Tubridy is not presenting his weekday morning radio show this week.

In a statement, Ms Martin said she had briefed government colleagues about the external review she ordered.

She said: “As I have said before, the revelations from RTÉ this past week are unacceptable and damaging to both RTÉ and to public service broadcasting in general.”

The minister continued: “Trust and confidence have been broken and it is essential that RTÉ puts the full facts on public record as a matter of urgency, to avoid further damaging public trust.”

She said she had written to the RTÉ chairperson Siún Ní Raghallaigh to set out key questions that must be answered.

Ms Martin said: “In particular, the public wants to know who signed off on the payments, who else was involved or aware of these transactions, and when will the further Grant Thornton report commissioned by RTÉ which relates to the understatement of the renumeration of RTÉ’s top paid presenter by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019 be completed.

“At times of crisis, it is the failure to put all information on the record at the earliest possible juncture that does most damage.”

The minister said she expects to finalise the of reference of the external review of governance and culture within RTÉ in the coming days.

The RTÉ Board said on Monday it was mindful that the public, staff and politicians want ability, and said it was “very mindful” of the need to provide clarity.

It said that a “comprehensive” statement would be issued on Tuesday afternoon “setting out its understanding of the circumstances” around payments made to Tubridy in the 2020-2022 period.

It also committed to publishing “as much as possible” of the Grant Thornton review into those payments, but said that the payments made from 2017-2019 are still being reviewed by the advisory company and so will not be included.

The Grant Thornton review into the 2020-2022 payments was commissioned by the Audit and Risk Committee of the RTÉ Board after anomalies were noticed.

It was received by the Board last Monday.

Later this week, of the RTÉ board and executive are due to attend the Media committee and the Public s committee to answer questions. It is unclear who exactly will attend, including whether Ms Forbes will be present.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said there is more transparency needed in relation to the controversy.

“It is absolutely vital in this scandal of governance over secret payments to one broadcaster, and whoever was involved in RTE, that public service broadcasting and the ordinary journalists and staff in RTÉ don’t become the victims of the wrongs that were done by a small minority at the top,” Mr Boyd Barrett said.

Labour Party Irish senator Marie Sherlock has said there are unanswered questions over decisions taken by the executive board of RTÉ.

She said: “The reality across the country is that the car is on fire and RTÉ staff are having to keep the show on the road working in extraordinarily difficult circumstances in an environment where many are saying to us privately they feel massively disrespected.

“I think there is a very real danger now because of the questions that remain outstanding, and of course we have to see the detailed statement from RTÉ, but it is in real danger now of inflicting a fatal crisis of confidence upon itself.”

She added: “How has RTÉ made gods out of a small number of its workers?”