Ryan Tubridy and talent agent Noel Kelly have said they did not know the hidden bumper payments which were paid to the former Late Late host came from RTÉ.
Speaking before the Oireachtas, Tubridy denied knowledge that hundreds of thousands of euro had come from the national broadcaster claiming that he and his agent believed the money came from Renault.
“We have no idea what Renault do,” said Kelly saying that if there was an effort to deceive in relation to the payments that they were “deceived as well”
Speaking on the matter of the 20% pay cut which he accepted in 2020 amid the pandemic, Tubridy said he took an overall 40% pay cut.
The pair claimed that an issue with GDPR prevented them from identifying the sender of an email who sent an email relating to an invoice saying, “Do not put any person’s name on the invoice”.
TD Alan Kelly described a statement released by RTÉ this morning as “astonishing” saying that the evidence given by RTÉ was ‘completely opposite’ from the documents given to the committee by Tubridy and Kelly describing their late submission as “insulting”.
He said the pair must have “serious accountancy issues” saying Kelly had stated about 15 times that he only ever acted under instruction.
More to follow.