RTÉ did not have 'valid basis' to make payments to Ryan Tubridy through barter account, review finds

A forensic overview of the account by Mazars found there was no valid basis for a number of barter purchase transactions

Ryan Tubridy. File picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews.ie

RTÉ did not have a "valid basis" to make payments to Ryan Tubridy through a barter account, a review of the account has shown.

The report is one of three published on Tuesday by Media Minister Catherine Martin into governance and accounting practices at the national broadcaster.

A forensic overview of the account by Mazars, published on Tuesday, found there was no valid basis for a number of barter purchase transactions. 

These include two payments made "in respect of talent at €150k in total" to Mr Tubridy as part of a top-up deal he had struck with the broadcaster. This item was "described as consultancy fees and was classified as promotion costs in the RTÉ accounts, which was not consistent with the basis for these payments", the authors found.

There were also four payments made in respect of Renault events at €44k in total with part of these payments classified as audience research by RTÉ, "which is not consistent with the basis for these payments".

There was one payment relating to a cancelled Executive Board meeting at €2,510 and one payment relating to office purchases at €8,054.

RTÉ was engulfed in crisis after it was revealed last summer that it had underreported Mr Tubridy’s salary by a total of €345,000 over the period 2017 to 2022. The barter account came to public prominence when it emerged that RTÉ had routed €150,000 in payments to Ryan Tubridy through the barter account, with no names being attached to the invoices.

Barter accounts are commonplace in the media industry to allow organisations to exchange advertising airtime that would otherwise go unsold in return for goods and services from companies.

The report found that RTÉ did not account in its financial statements for purchases made through barter trade credits amounting to hundreds of thousands of euro, a report has found.

The Mazars analysis of the station's barter account found:

• There are no additional off-balance-sheet accounts maintained by RTÉ other than the account used to top up the pay of Ryan Tubridy 
• RTÉ did not account for the trade credit balances held with barter media agencies, ranging from €243k at the 2017 year-end to €572k at the 2021 year-end 
• The omission of the barter purchases and barter trade credit balances for parts of the review period reflects an incorrect accounting treatment RTÉ can account for the €7.4m in sales run through the account 
• However, a €39,000 discrepancy was noted at the end of 2022's accounts. RTÉ said that reconciliation differences are resolved with barter agencies when a "cash out takes place"

On Mr Tubridy's payment through the barter account, the report says that two invoices were paid to a value of €75,000 each under the label "consultancy fees" and that the account was used because "no alternative budget was available".

"On review of both invoices, a description of ‘Consultancy Fees’ was detailed. The description ‘Consultancy Fees’ does not reflect the reality of these transactions as we were not provided with evidence that consultancy services were provided by CMS or the talent party to RTÉ. The classification of the payments to Promotion Cost is also incorrect as there is no evidence to suggest that promotional activities had taken place in respect of these two payments. RTÉ Group Finance staff have indicated that this classification issue was not considered a material misstatement of the financial statements, and therefore was not corrected."

The report says authors were "unable to determine the person responsible for the description of said "Consultancy Fees" after searching email threads and inboxes.

"We have found no valid basis for these transactions to have been paid through the barter account, as the payments were not aligned to the purpose of the barter account as described to us by interviewees, and based on our own review of barter purchase transactions. Based on [a] review of emails and information obtained during interviews, it would appear that the barter account was used to facilitate these payments due to no alternative budget being available."

The report's authors also hit out at spending through the barter account, saying there were "several barter purchase transactions where the basis of approval of these purchases was not clear". 

This was due to these events "being expensive in nature and the commercial benefit to RTÉ not being clear". 

These include a €73,000 payment for travel and accommodation and €20,000 on tickets at the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019, a €480 payment relating to a chauffeur service and four payments relating to the private Soho House venue in London for €5,375 in total. There were also two payments relating to the 2019 Champions League final at €19,000 and two payments relating to an Ireland football match in Gibraltar at €4,603 in total.

The report says that in the years 2017 to 2022, RTÉ's barter purchases a gross trade credit value of €1.21m (€785k net at 65% value), of which €409k consisted of client hospitality/entertainment, €231k (€150k net) consisted of identified talent agency payments and a further €226k consisted of flights and hotel accommodation.

The report's authors said they sought to interview four former RTÉ personnel, including former director general Dee Forbes and three former chief financial officers, but were unable. 

In the case of one former member of staff, the report's authors said they did not have contact details for Conor Hayes, the RTÉ financial controller between 2006 and 2012.

Two other separate reports into RTÉ’s governance and culture and a review of contractor fees, human resources and other matters were also published on Thursday.

The cost of three reports has amounted to around €570,000 to date, however the cost is expected to reach as much as €1m as the department awaits confirmation of further invoices.