RTÉ pay controversy: Draft report indicates Ryan Tubridy had the right to €120,000 he waived

RTÉ faces yet another moment of truth after accountants Grant Thornton submitted a second report on Ryan Tubridy’s pay to the board of the national broadcaster.

At issue this time are misleading statements RTÉ issued in January 2021 that suggested the then Late Late Show presenter received less than €500,000 in 2017, 2018 and 2019 even though he was paid more than that sum each year.

Tubridy was in fact paid €511,667 in 2017 but RTÉ did not declare €20,000 so his stated pay was €491,667. In 2018 and again in 2019 he received €545,000 but RTÉ did not declare €50,000 each year, wrongly suggesting he was on €495,000.

The new Grant Thornton report examines how RTÉ came to under-declare the star presenter’s pay by €120,000. It follows the firestorm sparked by the June disclosure of €225,000 in hidden Tubridy payments in 2020-2022. These more recent payments flowed from a deal with Late Late Show sponsor Renault, which exposed serious governance failings and led to political claims of lavish “slush fund” spending on corporate clients of the State broadcaster.

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Tubridy has been off the air ever since. RTÉ faces a financial crunch as licence fee income drops and the organisation faces a fundamental overhaul as Government reviewers pore over its operations. For RTÉ, it has been a chastening experience.

But what happened the disputed €120,000? This money was “set off” the pay RTÉ declared for Tubridy in 2017-2019 after he waived a €120,000 termination fee due in 2020 at the end of his 2015 contract.

Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly have always insisted he was fully entitled to that termination fee. Documents they submitted to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee and the Oireachtas arts and media committee show how they rejected a proposed clause in a 2020 draft side letter with Tubridy’s new contract that suggested the termination payment would be offset against his 2017-2019 earnings. The final text of the side letter, signed by RTÉ and Kelly in July 2020, incorporates changes suggested by the Tubridy camp.

[ Ryan Tubridy’s pay: Grant Thornton submits new report to RTÉ board ]

Even though the offset was not included in the side letter, RTÉ proceeded to under-declare Tubridy’s earnings as had been suggested in original draft. RTÉ explained that by saying there had been an “undelivery” of services due, because the 2015 contract said the termination fee embraced services additional to his radio and Late Late Show work which he might be required to provide. In the event, Tubridy was not called on to provide such services.

Although this was the basis for RTÉ deducting unpaid fees from his actual pay in its public declarations, it was in direct conflict with records on RTÉ payroll software. Such records reflected the full Tubridy payments.

The under-declared 2017-2019 statements were also in conflict with the Tubridy camp view that he still stood to receive the entire €120,000 even though no services were provided. As one witness put it, this reflected a “use it or lose it” position for RTÉ in which Tubridy’s termination fee was always going to fall due in 2020 even if he was not required to provide any additional services.

Drafts of the latest Grant Thornton report and indeed the final document are now said to conclude that Tubridy did indeed have the right to the money that he waived.

At a time of turmoil for Tubridy, with his RTÉ career still in the balance, that finding is a measure of good news for the presenter.

What transpired was something different. Yes, he received money not declared by RTÉ and did not say anything publicly when misleading data was published. Still, that took place in circumstances where his agent objected to the arrangement and RTÉ's legal division signed off on side letter amendments suggested by Kelly.

[ RTÉ paying Ryan Tubridy less than he sought while off-air, says Kevin Bakhurst ]

In addition, the sums deducted from Tubridy’s declared earnings reflected unpaid fees that he chose not to collect. This was not in the same league as the costly Renault arrangement underwritten by RTÉ in which the organisation found itself on the hook for Tubridy services that Renault did not ultimately seek.

There is still no clarity on when the latest Grant Thornton report will be published. But with two Oireachtas committees in pursuit of RTÉ and the Government restive over the broadcaster’s growing financial problems, a long delay before publication seems at this point to be unlikely.