Ryan Tubridy is facing the prospect of being questioned in the Oireachtas about his dealings with RTÉ, after a Dáil committee chairman said the broadcaster would be compelled to appear in Leinster House if he declines to attend voluntarily.
As another critical week for RTÉ looms, the Government is preparing to give powers to an external reviewer to examine years of the national broadcaster’s financial records.
The intervention, to be agreed on at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting, comes after the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) heard claims that RTÉ had a “slush fund” for expensive sports and entertainment junkets. That money came from the same UK “barter account” it used to funnel special payments to Tubridy, its highest earner for years.
The controversy began almost a fortnight ago when it was announced that more than €345,000 in hidden payments had been made to Tubridy, the former Late Late Show host. It has since widened, and concern has intensified over lax financial controls in RTÉ and governance failings in its executive and board.
After some bitter exchanges last week with senior RTÉ executives, the PAC is turning its attention to Tubridy. Committee chairman Brian Stanley, a Sinn Féin TD, said it was as “sure as the blue skies are over your head” when asked whether the committee will call Tubridy, his agent Noel Kelly and former RTÉ director general Noel Curran to appear.
“If they want to take a legal case to prevent themselves from being compelled, that’s up to them. My understanding at this point is that we have the powers to do that [compel them], and we certainly are up for exercising to the fullest,” Mr Stanley told The Irish Times.
The prospect of the PAC deploying compellability powers makes it a virtual certainty that Tubridy will have to come before it, putting him at the centre of political drama while he is off the airwaves because of the controversy. There was no comment regarding any potential committee appearance last night from Tubridy, whose morning radio show is currently being presented by Oliver Callan.
Minister for Media Catherine Martin will this week seek Cabinet approval for an extensive review of the State broadcaster. In a sign that RTÉ finances will be under heavy scrutiny, the Minister plans to deploy powers under the Broadcasting Act to ask experts “to examine the books or other records of account … in respect of any financial year”.
The review is likely to be led by Prof Niamh Brennan of UCD, although the appointment of other experts is not being ruled out. Given the damage to RTÉ since the Tubridy revelations, Cabinet colleagues expect Ms Martin will take that option.
“I don’t think RTÉ as it is today will persist beyond the review process,” one Minister said.
The review is forecast to continue for six or eight months, but interim reports will be published. The terms of reference will be considered by Coalition leaders at their regular Monday meeting.
Ms Martin yesterday downplayed reports that the Government was considering RTÉ redundancies or the sale of assets such as 2FM. “There are no proposals by the Minister for staff redundancies or selling assets. These, and related issues, would be matters for the RTÉ board in the first instance,” she said.
