RTÉ is facing a deepening crisis of public confidence after being accused of using a “slush fund” to spend €275,000 on corporate hospitality in Japan and Spain and on Irish Rugby Football Union tickets.
The spending was described as “outrageous” by RTÉ chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh as the broadcaster revealed the money came from the same UK “barter account” that was used to funnel hidden payments to star presenter Ryan Tubridy, for years the broadcaster’s highest earner.
The revelation at the Dáil Public Accounts Committee has escalated concerns about controls at RTÉ after the broadcaster admitted publishing misleading statements for years about Mr Tubridy’s pay, engulfing the organisation in turmoil.
Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she was appalled at how RTÉ accounted for the payments into the account, which were described as “consultancy fees” for Mr Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly.
“What was the motivation here? It appears to me that this was an act designed to deceive,” the chairwoman said.
RTÉ chief financial officer Richard Collins went further still, implicitly questioning the organisation’s assertions that the payments were legal: “My own opinion is maybe the taxpayer was defrauded.”
[ RTÉ’s presentation of Tubridy payments ‘designed to deceive’, chair tells PACOpens in new window ]
RTÉ under fire at the Public Accounts Committee
The PAC hearing – RTÉ's second round of Oireachtas scrutiny in as many days – was described as extraordinary after Mr Collins set out hundreds of thousands of euro in hospitality spending for advertisers from the “barter” account, a type of trading account used in the media industry.
The expenditure included €110,000 on travel and hotels to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, 10-year IRFU season tickets at the cost of €138,000, and €26,000 on the 2019 soccer Champions League final in Madrid.
RTÉ's then chairwoman Moya Doherty told the PAC she had no knowledge of any concealed transactions or the tripartite agreement between RTÉ, Tubridy and Renault Ireland, which led to the broadcaster guaranteeing €75,000 in undeclared annual payments to the then presenter of The Late Late Show, the station’s flagship TV programme.
“I was not aware as chair of the organisation across eight years of a slush fund. I was not aware of clandestine payments – and I was not aware of the tripartite agreement,” Ms Doherty said.
Asked about the use of the term “slush fund”, Ms Doherty said: “None of us knew of the existence of this barter fund. For me as chair and my colleagues on the board, that is staggering and absolutely shocking.”
As political pressure on RTÉ to put its house in order intensifies, incoming Late Late Show host Patrick Kielty disclosed he will be paid €250,000 per 30-show season and a once-off fee of €20,000 for rehearsals and pilot shows. He has waived a €50,000 allowance for expenses.
Senior Government figures expressed deep concern that the damage to RTÉ was significantly compounded by the last two days of committee hearings.
“I watched today and thought that nothing could be as bad as yesterday but I was wrong,” said one figure of rank.
[ RTÉ’s PAC hearing: 10 things we learned on an ‘extraordinary’ dayOpens in new window ]
In Brussels for an EU summit, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar stressed the importance of public service broadcasting and said that the Government would have to separate the question of funding RTÉ into the future from the present controversy.
Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe said: “We need an RTÉ at the end of this.”
The Government expects to receive the second Grant Thornton report into payments to Tubridy in the coming days and will appoint a governance expert to review RTÉ when the Cabinet meets next Tuesday.
Senior officials have been in discussions with Prof Niamh Brennan of UCD, a governance and auditing expert, about taking on the role.
There have also been informal discussions in Government about a more intrusive form of inquiry into RTÉ, though it is understood there are no plans at present for that.
Still, Government sources said they had been flabbergasted by the revelations of recent days and had not ruled out any particular action in the future.
RTÉ told the PAC it would review how it negotiates contracts with agents and planned to publish the salaries of other high earners beyond the top-10 presenters. The RTÉ executive board will also be overhauled.
Tubridy has yet to comment on whether he will accept an invitation to appear at the PAC.
