Senior RTÉ executives were 'deceitful' in deliberately misleading the Dáil and the public over Ryan Tubridy's pay, chair of the Public Accounts Committee has said.
Brian Stanley was speaking as a Grant Thornton report showed that on the 'balance of probabilities', RTÉ understated the salary to Mr Tubridy to keep his payments below €500,000.
It also found a payment of €120,000, which Mr Tubridy was entitled to as an exit fee for a previous contract, was not made by RTÉ as it had been waived by the presenter.
Deputy Stanley told The Hard Shoulder money was moved around to mislead people.
"What's most unusual about it is the deliberate, deceitful - I would call it - practice of using that €120,000 by senior executives in RTÉ to backfill the gap between the lower figure of payments that he was supposed to be receiving," he said.
"In other words: the lower wages that the public were being told that he was getting, and that the Dáil was being told, and the actual figures that he was being given.
"They used that €120,000 to backfill that space over the three years - that was, I believe, deceitful, it was deliberately misleading the Dáil Public Accounts Committee Chair, and it was deliberately misleading the public".
'Who designed that?'
Deputy Stanley said someone needs to be held accountable for this approach.
"We need to know who came up with that idea; who was it who designed that?" he said.
"Who was it who implemented that, who knew about it that failed to raise this issue?"
Deputy Stanley said Mr Tubridy ultimately received a higher salary.
"He now needs to finally put his hands up on that," he said
"He has tried to put the best shine on this... but in actual fact, he did receive the higher figures.
"He needs to own up to that; he does need to apologise for that, I believe.
"But what's really important is... what happened in relation to RTÉ senior management there? Who went along with this?
"In terms of the finance section of RTÉ, and in the accounts section of RTÉ, who was involved in designing this?"
'Appearing before the PAC'
Deputy Stanley said there are also questions here for Deloitte.
"Deloitte were the auditors and when you're auditing, these figures should be reconciled," he said.
"When the reconciliation was happening, why was this not spotted? And if it was spotted, and they brought it to the attention of RTÉ management, what answer did they get?"
Deputy Stanley said he wants to call a number of people before the PAC.
"The people I believe need to be before it... is Dee Forbes, former director-general, [RTÉ Director of Content] Mr Jim Jennings.
"Both of whom cannot attend, as I understand it for medical reasons, and I wish them a speedy recovery.
"Hopefully they will be available soon to come in.
"We also need to bring in Ms Breda O'Keefe, former chief financial officer, on the same day," he added.
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