The Grant Thornton report on the understatement of Ryan Tubridy’s pay between 2017 and 2019 is an important further step in understanding the strange and unsatisfactory saga which has inflicted significant damage on the national broadcaster. The report’s findings are clear that the logic used by RTÉ to reduce the presenter’s earnings below €500,000 for each of the three years was “not sound”. The record has now been corrected in updated figures published earlier this year by the RTÉ board, but the original understatement should simply never have happened.
The report, which is forensic and detailed, was not designed to apportion blame to particular individuals. And Grant Thornton did not have an easy job, given the different views of a number of key participants on aspects of what happened and its inability to interview others. But, as it says, the outcome was clear. RTÉ reported figures for the presenter’s pay which were lower than what he actually received.
The accountants found that it was “very plausible” that the scheme was thought up to reduce the presenter’s reported earnings below €500,000 for each year, but it was not possible to be conclusive on this. Tubridy himself was not to blame – this was purely an exercise undertaken within RTÉ, without the knowledge of the board.
The strange method used by RTÉ to achieve the understatement related to the presenter’s agreement to forego a ¤120,000 bonus due at the end of the contract term. A decision was then made to credit a similar amount against his earnings over the three years. This all raises questions for those in RTÉ management who were involved – including former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe and her successor Richard Collins .
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It is also not clear why RTÉ's’s auditors Deloitte gave the go ahead for the financial manoeuvre – they say that they did not audit the high earners’ data, but they did provide an accounting view on it, including specifically on the Tubridy figures. Former director general Dee Forbes was one of those not interviewed, so we have yet to hear her side of the story.
Unfortunately, the affair again reflects badly on corporate governance and standards in RTÉ at that time. The organisation has already suffered significant damage from revelations in relation to a later deal with Renault and the management of its barter account. For a broadcaster charged with holding others to account, all this is a serious problem.
Nor has a line yet been drawn under the past, with lawyers McCann Fitzgerald due to report on the handling of two voluntary exit schemes made available in recent years. The job of restoring credibility for new director general Kevin Bakhurst is challenging, though RTÉ's strong record of journalism provides a solid basis for it.