RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes has resigned ‘with immediate effect’ after it was revealed that top host Ryan Tubridy received €345,000 in undeclared payments over a period from approximately 2017 – 2022.
Last Friday it was reported that Forbes had been suspended on the previous Wednesday with calls from Sinn Féin TD Brian Stanley for her to ‘come out’ and explain her exact role in the payment scandal.
A statement from the RTÉ board said, “Representatives of the RTÉ Board and Executive will be attending the Joint Oireachtas Committee and Public Accounts Committee this week.”
This morning a statement from Forbes was released saying she was “deeply sorry for what happened” and her part in “this episode”.
In relation to the circumstances of the undisclosed payments the statement says that, “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 [Renault] would enter into a separate commercial contract with Ryan Tubridy for €75k in exchange for the provision of three events annually.”
“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,” it says.
This effectively means that Renault would have paid a portion of the money that they had agreed to pay RTÉ directly to Ryan Tubridy instead – their payments to RTÉ being reduced by the amount going to the former Late Late Show host.
Forbes says that while she “did not at any stage act contrary to any advice” that “pandemic restrictions” meant “commitment to the commercial client could not be met in 2020 and 2021 and was only delivered in 2022.”
She says that due to this the “commercial partner” said that the commercial arrangement “was not going to work for them in the long term” by which point only one payment of €75k had been made to Tubridy.
Forbes says that while RTÉ “never expected to become liable” for the outstanding payments and had “not budgeted for them” it was decided that the remaining costs be paid 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.” she said adding that, “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 said
In relation to events from 2020-2022 Forbes says she ‘understands from media reports and RTÉ statements’ that the board of RTÉ had ‘raised questions’ about payments made to Tubridy between 2017-2019 but denies any knowledge of these or that the board has questioned her about them.
Forbes says that the board of RTÉ has not treated her “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 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,” she said.