'Possible' that payments controversy had bearing on Tubridy’s decision to leave Late Late 

Ryan Tubridy. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos

A committee has been told that it is possible the undisclosed payments controversy had a bearing on Ryan Tubridy’s decision to step down as the host of The Late Late Show in March.

Adrian Lynch, interim deputy director general of RTÉ, had previously told Public Accounts Committee (PAC) that based on the timeline, he did not believe it was linked to him stepping down.

“So what I’d actually done was trying to work out the day the director of content had told me that Ryan Tubridy had come into his office to tell him that he was stepping down. So, I went back and checked my email because I’d sent him an email with a list of potential presenters and that was on, I think, it was March 13,” Mr Lynch said.

“So, in my mind, I didn’t realise that actually the CFO had had contact from the auditors on – whatever it was – March 10 or whatever. So, just to clarify that.” 

Sinn Féin TD John Brady asked: “Okay, so Ryan Tubridy could well have been informed by somebody that this process or these concerns had been raised?” Mr Lynch said: “Based on the information from yesterday, it’s possible.”

You can watch proceedings at the PAC here: 

It comes as RTÉ’s new director general is set to “reconstitute” the broadcaster’s entire executive board in his first action as Director General.

Kevin Bakhurst, a former head of news and current affairs at RTÉ, is set to take over the top job from Mr Lynch on July 10.

In his statement to the PAC on Thursday afternoon Mr Lynch told those present that having spoken to Mr Bakhurst on Wednesday evening he understands “his first task will be a reconstitution of the executive board of RTÉ”.

The nine-person committee has come in for a great deal of criticism in recent days for a perceived lack of oversight, leading to a scandal involving undeclared payments to presenter Ryan Tubridy.

The PAC meeting comes after a number of questions were left unanswered by the executives after they appeared before the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday.

Mr Lynch told the PAC on Thursday: “It is true that the executive board failed in its responsibility to act as a collective, and failed to ensure good governance in this matter.”

“Collectively, owing to the siloed style of procedures at executive, and an overreliance on the prerogative asserted by the director general, we did not receive a comprehensive evaluation of Ryan Tubridy’s contract in full, including the way in which the payments were treated,” he said.

“We acknowledge and accept this failure by those members of the executive who were aware of thecontract.”

The PAC also heard that auditors Deloitte triggered concerns to the RTÉ executive after it was told that a €75,000 payment for Mr Tubridy had been billed as consultancy services payable to his agent Noel Kelly as to “the structure of RTÉ during Covid”.

RTE Interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch (left), Commercial Director Geraldine O'Leary, Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins (right) and Strategy Director Rory Coveney arriving at Leinster House, Dublin. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA Wire

Chief financial officer Richard Collins was told by former director general Dee Forbes in early march, on foot of queries from Deloitte, that the payments were due to the agent, rather than Mr Tubridy himself.

Mr Collins told Sinn Féin’s Imelda Munster that Deloitte “were not happy” with the response he had given, and proceeded to raise the matter with the executive, which in turn commissioned an investigation by Grant Thornton.

RTÉ’s commercial director said either Noel Kelly or Ms Forbes came up with the terminology of “consultancy fees”, repeating a claim from Wednesday that she could not recall who exactly.

Geraldine O’Leary said: “It was either Noel Kelly or the director general, but I’m not sure which one. So, in the absence of being 100% certain, I believe it is correct to say that I don’t remember – because I don’t.

“I have been trying to find that information since March of this year. I’ve been through the whole Grant Thornton forensic account. I have been 100% honest all the way through and I told Grant Thornton that I would not make a statement I could not 100% (stand over).”

Earlier, Fianna Fáil’s James O’Connor had asked whether the “godlike power” wielded by Mr Kelly had ever been questioned by RTÉ’s executive.

“Did the board never have that discussion,” he said, adding that Mr Kelly’s power in that regard was “not tenable”, a statement to which RTÉ chair Siun Ni Raghallaigh replied “I don’t disagree”.

Meanwhile, pressure has been mounting on the chairwoman of the RTÉ board Siún Ní Raghallaigh after she revealed that Media Minister Catherine Martin was kept in the dark about the fact Ms Forbes had been asked to quit.

Ms Forbes had been invited to appear before the PAC, but cannot attend due to ill health.

Ms Forbes quit on Monday having been suspended the previous week. RTÉ first announced last Thursday that between 2017 and 2022 Mr Tubridy had received €345,000 more than what the broadcaster had officially declared to the Government and the public.

At the media committee grilling on Wednesday, politicians accused the executive board of throwing Ms Forbes "under a bus", and of trying to distance themselves from the undeclared payments scandal.

It was also revealed that some senior members of the executive board of RTÉ became aware of accounting issues in "early March", up to two weeks earlier than had previously been indicated, and a number of weeks before Mr Tubridy announced that he would be stepping down from The Late Late Show.

Mr Tubridy is expected to be off the airwaves for some time as interim director general Adrian Lynch told the media committee that it is "impossible" for him to come back at the moment due to "editorial reasons".

Earlier, the Taoiseach said Mr Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly should appear before Oireachtas committees if asked. 

Speaking in Brussels this afternoon, Leo Varadkar said the PAC and media committee were working to get to the bottom of the "clandestine payments" at RTÉ and both Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly, as well as former director general Dee Forbes, "may have a story to tell".

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