RTÉ must put full facts over Tubridy payments into public domain – Minister

RTE must urgently put the full facts over undisclosed payments made to star presenter Ryan Tubridy into the public domain to avoid further damaging public confidence, Irish Culture Minister Catherine Martin has said.

It came as a staff protest was being held at RTE headquarters in Donnybrook at lunchtime in response to growing anger over the spiralling controversy at the public service broadcaster.

RTE has said it will publish “as much as possible” of an external review into undisclosed payments made to Tubridy later on Tuesday.

Questions have intensified around the 345,000 euro worth of undisclosed payments made between 2017 and 2022 to former Late, Late Show host Tubridy since the affair was made public last week.

It has prompted the Government to order an external review into governance and culture at the broadcaster, and RTE executives are due before two parliamentary committees this week to answer questions from TDs and senators.

Former RTE boss Dee Forbes resigned as director general of RTE on Monday.

Tubridy is not presenting his weekday morning radio show this week.

In a statement, Ms Martin said she had briefed government colleagues about the external review she ordered.

She said: “As I have said before, the revelations from RTE this past week are unacceptable and damaging to both RTE and to public service broadcasting in general.”

The minister continued: “Trust and confidence have been broken and it is essential that RTE puts the full facts on public record as a matter of urgency, to avoid further damaging public trust.”

She said she had written to the RTE chairperson Siun Ni Raghallaigh to set out key questions that must be answered.

Ms Martin said: “In particular, the public wants to know who signed off on the payments, who else was involved or aware of these transactions, and when will the further Grant Thornton report commissioned by RTE which relates to the understatement of the renumeration of RTE’s top paid presenter by 120,000 euro between 2017 and 2019 be completed.

“At times of crisis, it is the failure to put all information on the record at the earliest possible juncture that does most damage.”

The minister said she expects to finalise the terms of reference of the external review of governance and culture within RTE in the coming days.

The RTE Board said on Monday it was mindful that the public, staff and politicians want accountability, and said it was “very mindful” of the need to provide clarity.

It said that a “comprehensive” statement would be issued on Tuesday afternoon “setting out its understanding of the circumstances” around payments made to Tubridy in the 2020-2022 period.

It also committed to publishing “as much as possible” of the Grant Thornton review into those payments, but said that the payments made from 2017-2019 are still being reviewed by the advisory company and so will not be included.

The Grant Thornton review into the 2020-2022 payments was commissioned by the Audit and Risk Committee of the RTE Board after anomalies were noticed.

It was received by the Board last Monday.

Later this week, members of the RTE board and executive are due to attend the Media committee and the Public Accounts committee to answer questions. It is unclear who exactly will attend, including whether Ms Forbes will be present.

People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said there is more transparency needed in relation to the controversy.

“It is absolutely vital in this scandal of governance over secret payments to one broadcaster, and whoever was involved in RTE, that public service broadcasting and the ordinary journalists and staff in RTE don’t become the victims of the wrongs that were done by a small minority at the top,” Mr Boyd Barrett said.

Labour Party Irish senator Marie Sherlock has said there are unanswered questions over decisions taken by the executive board of RTE.

She said: “The reality across the country is that the car is on fire and RTE staff are having to keep the show on the road working in extraordinarily difficult circumstances in an environment where many are saying to us privately they feel massively disrespected.

“I think there is a very real danger now because of the questions that remain outstanding, and of course we have to see the detailed statement from RTE, but it is in real danger now of inflicting a fatal crisis of confidence upon itself.”

She added: “How has RTE made gods out of a small number of its workers?”