Ryan Tubridy had ‘no intention’ to cause difficulty for RTÉ with statement

A representative of Ryan Tubridy wrote to RTÉ on Thursday saying the presenter had “no intention of causing any difficulty for RTÉ in relation to his statement made yesterday”.

The letter came after the national broadcaster sought clarity from Mr Tubridy in relation to comments he made following the publication of the Grant Thornton report on Wednesday.

The report found Mr Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly had no role in misleading statements that claimed he was on a salary less than €500,000 in 2017-2019 when he was not.

Reacting to the report on Wednesday, Mr Tubridy said he was “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”.

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He went on to say his “actual income from RTÉ in 2020 and 2021 matches what was originally published as my earnings for those years”.

When RTÉ asked for a clarification on this statement, his representative said it referred to sections of the report “which confirm that Ryan’s actual payments from RTÉ for this period as denoted on RTE’s payroll system did in fact match the figures originally reported by RTÉ for this period”.

The letter continued: “Importantly, this does not mean that this is how RTÉ was required to account for Ryan’s earnings in these years. RTÉ's correct accounting treatment for such earnings is entirely separate and distinct.

“For the elimination of any doubt, our client was not in any way inferring that RTÉ was incorrect in relation to its restatements made in June 2023 in connection with the period 2017-2021.

“Certainly, our client had no intention of causing any difficulty for RTE in relation to his statement made yesterday.”

In response, the national broadcaster released a fresh statement on Friday, saying matters were “not addressed to RTÉ's satisfaction”.

“Regardless of intent, Mr Tubridy’s statement, and the timing and manner of its publication, damaged trust between both parties and that, along with a range of other issues outlined by Kevin Bakhurst resulted in the conclusion of the negotiations.”

Meanwhile, Minister of Finance Michael McGrath has said the Government is committed to public service broadcasting and is considering providing interim funding for RTÉ in the budget.

Speaking in Cork, Mr McGrath said RTÉ had undermined the faith of the public in the station over the last few months following the “self-inflicted own goal” of the payments controversy.

However, he urged members of the public to continue to pay their TV licence for what he described as “high-quality public service broadcasting.” This follows a 37 per cent drop off in payment levels in the first week of August compared to the same week last year.

He said that the Government was looking at a potential overhaul of the TV licence.

[ The future of RTÉ, by Mark Little, Larry Bass and more ]

“That is an issue the Government will give consideration to over the months ahead.

“But the TV licence is the system that’s currently there, there is an obligation on households to pay the TV licence. And I think we have to reflect on what we get from it.

“And we do get very high-quality public service broadcasting and I think people do appreciate the value of the output from RTÉ.

“This was pretty much a self-inflicted own goal by RTÉ in recent months and they have put their hands up and acknowledged that as an organisation, they have been the cause of these problems. And that (own goal) has undoubtedly undermined public confidence and public trust in the organisation.”

Mr McGrath said reinstating public trust and confidence in RTÉ “is not an easy task”.

He said the Government supports the broadcaster’s new director general Kevin Bakhurst and his interim leadership team “in the work that they have to do, which is about rebuilding public trust.

“I think the reason why some people who previously paid the license and have now decided not to pay it have made that decision is because they’ve lost trust, and they’ve lost confidence in the organisation.

“And so it falls to the new leadership team of RTÉ to help to rebuild that trust and confidence and we support them in their work. It’s not going to be an easy job.”

He said the Government stands fully behind public service broadcasting.

“When it comes to the budget it will be a matter of negotiation between Minister Catherine Martin and Minister Paschal Donohoe.

“I do anticipate they will be having a very serious discussion around interim funding. I think that was going to be necessary anyway pending a Government decision on the long-term funding arrangement for public service broadcasting.”

“The drop off in the rate of payment on TV licences is not surprising, but it is disappointing and for now that remains the vehicle through which we all need to support public service broadcasting,” Mr McGrath said.

“And so it’s important that we do continue to support it, but there will be discussions involving both of those Ministers over the weeks ahead in advance of budget 2024.”

Mr McGrath said the Government has a decision to make regarding the long-term sustainable funding model for public service broadcasting.

“I think if you were to get rid of any other funding stream, whether it be commercial revenue, or the TV licence, that it would all fall on taxpayers generally, to fund RTÉ and I think in that scenario, it would be a very different RTÉ indeed if the entire burden of funding fell on the shoulders of taxpayers through general taxation.

“And so that’s one of the reasons why the Government did not accept that recommendation from the Commission On The future of Media.

“We do believe it’s important that there are other sources of funding apart from the central Exchequer.

“I do expect we will come to decisions over the period ahead as to what is this sustainable funding model for it,” he said.