Minister Catherine Martin has ordered a full review of RTÉ’s governance and culture.
The news came following revelations Ryan Tubridy’s earnings were publicly understated since 2017, which has sent shockwaves across the industry.
The minister said: “While as minister I cannot get involved in the day-to-day operation of RTÉ, I do need assurance that the governance and culture is fit for purpose.”
Ms Martin continued: “Public trust in RTÉ must be rebuilt. Therefore, a Government decision on the future funding model for public service broadcasting has been paused until such time as this review is complete and the findings considered.
“My officials will develop Terms of Reference in this regard over the coming week, and I will expect the full co-operation of the RTÉ Board and senior executives in engaging with this review and in engaging with Oireachtas committees in the coming period.”
The minister explained she doesn’t know why RTÉ’s Director General Dee Forbes has been suspended from her position.
“This is nearly like an existential crisis for RTÉ and I believe in the value of public service broadcasting” Ms Martin said, adding: “I think we need to have that root and branch review, we need to look at the governance structure, we need to look at the oversight of financial transactions, we need to look at the culture there, at the staff there, the relationship with staff.”
Ms Martin said “we need to examine thoroughly the commercial side of things, how is that managed in terms of presenters’ earnings and relations with staff”.
After the review was announced, Chair of the RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh said in a statement: “Our priority is to ensure that public trust in corporate governance at RTÉ is restored. We take this responsibility very seriously.”
“We will work closely with the forthcoming external review to ensure that these issues are rigorously examined, so that full confidence in Ireland’s independent, public service broadcaster can be rebuilt.”
“Separately, we have already put a number of immediate steps in place to ensure that there is no recurrence of these matters, and we will also work to complete the second Grant Thornton report as quickly as possible.”
Ms Ní Raghallaigh continued: “On behalf of the Board of RTÉ, I want to apologise again to the public for this breach of trust, and also to the staff of RTÉ who work so hard on a daily basis to serve the public.”
On Thursday, the RTÉ Board issued an apology, after identifying and correcting an error in the public record of the presenter’s salary.
The issue was identified during a routine audit of RTÉ’s 2022 accounts, prompting an independent review of the matter – which found that his actual earnings were understated by €345,000 over the last six years.
In a statement on Thursday, the former Late Late Show host said he was “surprised” by revelations his salary was understated.
He said: “Like many people, I’m surprised by the announcements made in RTÉ’s statement today regarding the errors in the reporting of its accounts.”
“It is unfortunate that these errors are in relation to how RTÉ have reported payments made to me but I just want to be clear: this is a matter for RTÉ and I have no involvement in RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment or RTÉ’s public declarations in connection with such payments.
“Obviously, I’m disappointed to be at the centre of this story but unfortunately, I can’t shed any light on why RTÉ treated these payments in the way that they did nor can I answer for their mistakes in this regard.”
Amid the controversy, Ryan didn’t appear on his RTE Radio 1 show this morning, and was replaced by comedian Oliver Callan. It’s not yet known when Ryan will return to the show.
Ryan’s agent NK Management also said in a statement: “We were made aware today of RTÉ’s statement concerning its accounting treatment and public declarations of payments made to Ryan Tubridy.”
“These are matters for which RTÉ has sole responsibility and accountability. There is no issue whatsoever in relation to the payments being properly and lawfully due and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Ryan Tubridy or NK Management.
“These issues are solely concerned with RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment and public declarations in respect of such lawful payments.”
RTÉ bosses are now facing calls to come before two Oireachtas committees to address the controversy surrounding his remuneration, which has been described as a “serious breach of trust with the public”.
Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) at RTÉ are set to hold an emergency meeting to discuss the issue on Friday.
It’s understood there is huge anger among staff working in RTÉ at the pay revelations.
A source told the Irish Independent: “People working in RTÉ just can’t fathom how this went undetected for so long. In some instances, payments of over half a million euros were made to Ryan Tubridy for one year’s work.”
“At the same time, RTÉ management are going with their begging bowl to the Government calling for a reform of the licence fee structure and extra financial supports.”
“It brings the whole organisation into disrepute and people are understandably angry.”
