The RTÉ Board has pledged to release a “comprehensive statement” setting out everything it knows about the Ryan Tubridy pay scandal tomorrow afternoon.

The board is also promising to publish as much as possible of the Grant Thornton review that was carried out after the State broadcaster’s Audit and Risk Committee first identified the issue in March.

It has also confirmed that members of the RTÉ Board and Executive will attend the Joint Oireachtas Committee and the Public Accounts Committee this week.

RTÉ Director-General Dee Forbes leaving an event at the National Concert Hall in Dublin January 2020. Picture by: PA Images / Alamy Stock Photo

It comes after former RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes this morning resigned her position with immediate effect.

She had already been suspended from her position while the issue was being investigated.

In her statement, Ms Forbes said the payments were negotiated prior to her arrival at RTÉ but noted that as Director-General, “I am the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation”.

She also hit out at the board, insisting it had “not treated me with anything approaching the levels of fairness, equity and respect that anyone should expect as an employee, a colleague or a person".

“Serious breach of trust”

It emerged last week that RTÉ had paid Ryan Tubridy hundreds of thousands of euro more than it declared to the public or the Oireachtas.

The Chair of the RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh said the board was “well aware that this is a serious breach of trust with the public”.

“It is clear that RTÉ has fallen short of the high standards that it sets for itself and are expected of it,” she said.

“Comprehensive statement”

Today the board committed to publishing its full understanding of what happened by tomorrow afternoon.

“RTÉ is acutely aware that the issues that were communicated by the RTÉ Board in its statement last Thursday have raised profound questions,” it said.

“The public, public representatives and RTÉ staff want to know what happened, how it happened and who is accountable.

“We are very mindful of the need to provide clarity as soon as possible, and we are committed to doing so.

“Tomorrow afternoon, RTÉ will issue a comprehensive statement setting out its understanding of the circumstances surrounding the misstating of Ryan Tubridy's earnings across the 2020-2022 period.

“RTÉ will also publish as much as possible of the Grant Thornton review, which was commissioned by the Audit and Risk Committee of the RTÉ Board, and received by the board on Monday last, June 19th 2023.”

Ryan Tubridy pay

The issue was only identified in late March – with the RTÉ Board’s Audit and Risk Committee then calling in Grant Thornton to carry out an independent fact-finding review on the matter.

It found that RTÉ had agreed a separate arrangement with Mr Tubridy under which it guaranteed him an annual payment of €75,000 from a commercial partner, ‘in exchange for a number of personal appearances’.

As part of the agreement, RTÉ reduced the cost of the commercial partner’s sponsorship arrangement with the organisation through a credit note.

When the commercial partner then decided not to renew its sponsorship, RTÉ made the next two payments directly to Mr Tubridy, through his agent.

In total RTÉ paid Mr Tubridy €225,000 through the agreement over the three years in addition to his declared salary.

Separately, the Grant Thornton investigation also found that RTÉ had ‘understated’ Mr Tubridy’s salary by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019.

These payments are still under internal investigation.

It means Mr Tubridy was paid €345,000 more than stated over the six-year period.

On top of that, RTÉ’s use of a ‘barter account’ to pay Mr Tubridy the last two €75,000 payments cost it an extra €80,760 in “fees incurred through the barter account process”.

'Honesty'

RTÉ presenter Miriam O'Callaghan has issued a statement in which she confirms her published salary of €263,500 last year was correct.

"I have never received additional payments from RTÉ that were not publicly declared," she said.

Ms O'Callaghan said she felt compelled to make the clarification "for the purpose of transparency, honesty and clarity"; she also said there was "shock, anger and sadness" among RTÉ staff.

Presenter Claire Byrne has also confirmed her published salary is correct, "as are those published in the past".

Ms Byrne added she has "never sought, been offered or discussed any kind of commercial or side deal".