RTÉ has admitted paying Ryan Tubridy hundreds of thousands of euro more than the national broadcaster has declared publicly or to the Oireachtas.
In a statement it was admitted that Tubridy has been paid the €345,000 in undeclared income over a period of several years from 2017 to 2022.
In the statement RTÉ says the monies came to light after an auditor raised concerns.
“In late March of this year during a routine audit of RTÉ’s 2022 accounts, an issue was identified in relation to the transparency of certain payments.”
“On receipt of this information, the Audit and Risk Committee of the RTÉ Board promptly commissioned Grant Thornton to carry out an independent fact-finding review on the matter in question,” it said.
RTÉ says it considers “the public misstating” of financial information to be “a very serious matter and has moved as quickly as it could, once it had independently established the facts, to publish the correct figures.”
It further states that as per the request of the Board a full audit of the payments of the broadcaster’s top ten ‘most highly paid on air presenters’ was conducted which it says “has found that the full cost to RTÉ of its contracts with the other such on-air presenters, has been correctly reported.”
RTÉ says its board is “committed to ensuring that there is appropriate accountability for what has occurred. That process is ongoing, mindful of individuals’ rights, and affording them due process.”
The Chair of the board of RTÉ stated that, “This is a matter of profound regret for the Board of RTÉ. We are well aware that this is a serious breach of trust with the public.”
“On behalf of the Board, I wish to apologise for what has occurred. It is clear that RTÉ has fallen short of the high standards that it sets for itself and are expected of it,” she said.
“Once these issues came to light, we acted expeditiously to establish the facts and we are confident that the safeguards we have now put in place will ensure that nothing like this will happen again, and that good corporate governance is adhered to at all times.”
The full statement and breakdown of pay to Mr. Tubridy can be read here.