RTÉ pay report reaches a quietly damning conclusion

The second Grant Thornton report on Ryan Tubridy’s money goes some way towards affirming what was suspected all along.

When RTÉ reduced the star presenter’s declared pay by €120,000 in 2017-2019, the move conveyed the impression Tubridy had received less than €500,000 each year even though he had received more. Under pressure to cut costs, RTÉ misled the public into believing its best-paid broadcaster was on less than €500,000. After a two-month investigation, Grant Thornton forensic accountant Paul Jacobs suggests the aim of the convoluted exercise to lower the declared pay was to achieve that very outcome.

In essence, a €120,000 termination fee that Tubridy waived at the end of his 2015 contract in 2020 was set off against his actual earnings. However, Jacobs finds there were no “spreadsheets or workings” on specific calculations and no financial gain to RTÉ or Tubridy. Although the understanding of some key individuals in relation to the set-off “was not entirely clear” and “differed between them”, the move had still been made.

“[There] is an alternative understanding that the 2020 adjustments represent the spreading of the benefit of the exit fee (which had been waived by Mr Tubridy) across earlier years. The problem with that alternative explanation is that in my view it does not reflect the reality of what happened,” Jacobs states.

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He goes on to provide a “very plausible explanation” but says it is not possible to be conclusive without having met all the individuals involved.

“Having conducted an exercise, on the balance of probabilities I find that, in the absence of any further explanations, my hypothetical exercise (which assumed the adjustments were made with an RTÉ objective to achieve a position where the ‘revised earnings’ for each year 2017, 2018 and 2019 were all below €500,000), provides a very plausible explanation as to how the values of the adjustments of €20,000, €50,000 and €50,000 were calculated or allocated by RTÉ for 2017, 2018 and 2019 respectively.”

Financial contortions

True, this is something less than a definitive finding. But in the noise of political tumult it is enough to raise major questions for the national broadcaster and the people behind the pay adjustments. Not for the first time in this summer of RTÉ turmoil, a public institution with a special mission to tell and pursue the truth is found to have engaged in financial contortions to obscure the reality of Tubridy’s high pay.

To be fair to Tubridy, Jacobs concludes the presenter “had no involvement” in RTÉ's adjustment to the published earnings. The same goes for his agent Noel Kelly, a man with whom RTÉ is reluctant to do business because of the pay controversy.

Jacobs finds Tubridy had the right to the €120,000 termination fee he waived. Moreover, Kelly objected when RTÉ proposed in a draft side letter to set off the €120,000 against Tubridy’s declared pay in 2017-2019. Although the ultimate side letter signed by RTÉ's legal representative and Kelly did not include the offending provisions, RTÉ's finance unit still proceeded to set off the uncollected money against his actual pay.

That was done on the basis that Tubridy had not delivered contract services additional to his radio and Late Late Show duties. Still, Grant Thornton finds Tubridy was due the money because services were set out on a “use it or lose it” basis. RTÉ was obliged to pay even if it did not require Tubridy to do the work. Jacobs finds Tubridy owed no refund to RTÉ and neither he nor Kelly agreed to provide a refund. In addition, RTÉ never sought and Tubridy never provided any credit notes for undelivered services.

After the furore over Tubridy’s hidden 2020-2022 payments in the fateful Renault deal, this is as good an outcome as he might have hoped for in this second Grant Thornton report. But whether it opens the way for a return to the airwaves is a matter that won’t be settled until later. At high levels in RTÉ, opinion is divided on that question.

Public disquiet

Although the 2017-2019 adjustments have only added to intense public disquiet over RTÉ governance failings, Jacobs identifies three points when it could have changed direction.

The first occurred in March 2020 in side-letter engagements between Kelly and RTÉ. The second was days later when RTÉ's finance unit had an opportunity to “flag” that the amended draft side letter did not accord with the original and, importantly, that the earlier proposed accounting treatment “was no longer appropriate”.

The third was in April 2020 in engagements between RTÉ and its auditor Deloitte, when they discussed the “marked up” side letter which removed reference to the €120,000 set-off. Jacobs is clear: “Whilst it has been explained to me that they concluded that the substance of the final signed agreement/side letter was not inconsistent with the earlier draft agreement/draft side letter, in light of the information available to me I have reached a different conclusion.”

Simply put, Jacobs rejects the argument advanced by Deloitte and RTÉ financial controller Richard Collins. “Deloitte and Mr Collins have explained to me that they concluded that the substance of the final signed agreement is not inconsistent and, in effect, the intent and purpose of the initial side agreement was retained in the final signed agreement, in light of the information available to me ... I have reached a different conclusion.”

Deloitte provided three “independent reasonable assurance reports” between 2017 and 2019 on pay schedules for top RTÉ presenters which included the Tubridy adjustments. Despites the many failings now acknowledged by RTÉ over the Tubridy declarations, Deloitte’s conclusion each year was that the schedules had been “prepared, in all material respects in accordance with the applicable criteria”.

Although these were not audit opinions, Jacobs says “it is reasonable to conclude that RTÉ finance placed some reliance” on the Deloitte reports. Such reports were addressed “to the board members of RTÉ” but were not subsequently provided to the board or audit committee.

Jacobs insists it is not within his terms of reference to “assess, or otherwise critique” the work of external accountancy firms. But there is no ambiguity in his assessment that the machinations leading to pay misstatements were deeply problematic. “In my opinion the logic of the adjustments made by RTÉ to published earnings of €20,000 (2017), €50,000 (2018) and €20,000 (2019) was not sound given my findings,” he states.

In its own quiet way, that is a damning conclusion.