Former 2FM star Louise McSharry appears to have thrown shade’ at RTÉ, following Dee Forbes’ resignation.
This morning, Dee announced she had resigned as Director General of RTÉ with immediate effect, amid the Ryan Tubridy pay scandal.
Louise, whose RTÉ 2FM show was axed in October 2021, has since weighed in on the drama.
The presenter quote tweeted Gavan Reilly, who wrote: “Dee Forbes resigns as RTE DG with immediate effect (and says the RTE board ‘has not treated me with anything approaching the levels of fairness, equity and respect that anyone should expect as an employee, a colleague or a person’).”
Louise responded: “Sounds familiar.”
Dee Forbes resigns as RTE DG with immediate effect (and says the RTE board “has not treated me with anything approaching the levels of fairness, equity and respect that anyone should expect as an employee, a colleague or a person”)
— Gavan Reilly (@gavreilly) June 26, 2023
During an interview with the Irish Independent’s Weekend Magazine last year, Louise admitted she felt like “a piece of trash” when her show was axed, and criticised the way bosses handled her departure.
She also hit out at bosses in a series of tweets, writing: “I was told on Tuesday my contract was not being renewed. I was told they would follow my lead in terms of announcement, but that I needed to keep it a secret in the meantime.”
“That day I submitted the statement I planned to release and said I wanted to do it on Friday. The response was very slow, and eventually I was told they wanted me to wait a further week.”
“This meant that I would a) have to be alone with this news, b) do my show that weekend and have planning meetings with my team, who were totally unawares, pretending everything was normal.”
“And c) I would have had to wait for the inevitable leak to the papers and ended up responding to a story instead of announcing my own departure and managing a difficult situation in the way that felt best to me.”
“My team, only two people who worked unbelievably hard to develop my show with me through two of the most difficult years of our collective lives deserved to know. It’s basic respect,” she continued.
“I deserved to seek support from friends and family in such a personally difficult situation. Not forced to be silent ‘in case of leaks’ as I was instructed. I did what I felt was the only option to me, and shared the news in a very respectful manner.”
“Clearly this was not in line with whatever announcements or strategy my former boss had in mind, but in this situation I felt it was appropriate to look after myself.”
“I have never been anything but professional and respectful of RTÉ up to this point, and I will absolutely not allow Dan Healy to suggest I’m responsible for the way I have been treated as he did in this article saying: ‘So take responsibility for your own actions too sometimes.’”
“Truly I had not planned on speaking any more about any of this, but I have to say my piece when he’s chosen to speak about me in this way,” she added.
Picture: Brian McEvoy
Last week, it was revealed that Ryan Tubridy’s earnings were publicly understated by €345,000 over the last six years.
The issue was identified during a routine audit of RTÉ’s 2022 accounts, prompting an independent review of the matter.
On Thursday, the RTÉ Board issued an apology over the error, and later Ryan also apologised for not questioning RTÉ over his published earnings.
The scandal resulted in the suspension of RTÉ’s Director General Dee Forbes, who has since resigned from her role.
In a statement on Monday morning, she said: “I regret very much the upset and adverse publicity suffered by RTÉ, its staff and the unease created among the public in recent days.”
“As Director General, I am the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation and I take that responsibility seriously. I am tendering my resignation to RTÉ with immediate effect.”
Ms Forbes’ term as Director General was due to end on July 11, before Kevin Bakhurst takes over the role.
In her statement, Ms Forbes continued: “I have engaged with and consistently co-operated with the processes directed towards answering questions surrounding payments to Ryan Tubridy.”
“Much of the information in the Grant Thornton Report furnished to the Board of RTÉ has emerged in recent days. There are a number of points which I think are important to emphasise.
“In early 2020 RTÉ began discussions around the renewal of Ryan Tubridy’s contract. That contract contained contractual payments that had been negotiated and put in place prior to my arrival at RTÉ.”
“Discussions on the new contract were taking place in the context of major organisational challenges and a commitment from the RTÉ Executive Board to the Board and the Government to reduce the fees paid to RTÉ’s top talent by a further 15% overall as part of a wider cost cutting strategy,” Dee wrote.
“As Director General, I led the discussions with the agent for Ryan Tubridy together with other RTÉ senior executives. We were keen to make a cost saving for RTÉ in respect of a contractual payment which was due to be paid.”
“At the same time, we were attempting to retain Ryan Tubridy’s services as a valued presenter and negotiate a new contract, with the agreed 15% cost cutting target in mind. In an effort to find a solution to the budgetary challenges, we explored if a long serving commercial partner might take on a commercial relationship directly with Ryan Tubridy.
“Following detailed discussions including numerous internal communications over many months with RTÉ colleagues, including finance and legal colleagues, an agreement was reached which delivered cost savings for RTÉ.”
“This agreement meant that the commercial partner would enter into a separate commercial contract with Ryan Tubridy for €75k in exchange for the provision of three events annually.
“As a result of the negotiated cost saving agreement, RTÉ would no longer be liable for a contractual payment that was due in 2020. This new commercial agreement required that RTÉ guarantee and underwrite the €75K payments.”
“The commercial partner agreed to this new business relationship with Ryan Tubridy, but they required the change to be cost neutral, as they were in the final year of a three-year sponsorship contract and this was done by issuing a credit note for €75k against their airtime.”
“I did not at any stage act contrary to any advice. Unfortunately, the pandemic restrictions meant that the commitment to the commercial client could not be met in 2020 and 2021 and was only delivered in 2022. The commercial partner informed us that the commercial arrangement was not going to work for them in the long term. At this point, only one €75k payment had been made.”
“Payment was sought for the 2021 and 2022 contractual commitments that now fell to RTÉ under the guarantee even though RTÉ had never expected to become liable for them and had not budgeted for them.”
“Because of the commercial nature of the arrangement, it was decided to pay the invoices from the commercial barter account which was in credit. We were motivated purely by the need to find a solution to honour the contractual obligation.”
“At all times, I and the representatives of RTÉ acted in good faith. I fully accept and acknowledge responsibility for my part in these events as Director General,” she continued.
“This statement is directed to the events of 2020-2022. I understand from media reports and RTÉ’s statement that the Board has raised questions concerning payments to Ryan Tubridy between 2017-2019. I have no knowledge of those payments and the Board has not raised those questions with me.”
“Finally, I want to reiterate that I have engaged fully with the Board during this process. However, the Board has not treated me with anything approaching the levels of fairness, equity and respect that anyone should expect as an employee, a colleague or a person. All of this has had a very serious and ongoing impact on my health and wellbeing.”
“I am deeply sorry for what has happened and my part in this episode and for that I apologise unreservedly to everyone.”
“I care very deeply about RTÉ, the people who work for it, the public it serves, its mission, values, its unique position as a public service broadcaster and its reputation. I will continue to do so as RTÉ moves forward under the new Director General,” Ms Forbes added.
In response to Dee’s statement and resignation, the RTÉ Board said: “We acknowledge receipt this morning of correspondence from Dee Forbes confirming her resignation as Director General with immediate effect. We note the contents of her accompanying statement.”
“Representatives of the RTÉ Board and Executive will be attending the Joint Oireachtas Committee and Public Accounts Committee this week.”
