Ryan Tubridy has announced he has repaid RTÉ €150,000 in connection with controversial payments made to him that plunged the broadcaster into crisis and led to him leaving the station almost two years ago.
In a statement, RTÉ confirmed the money had been received and thanked its former star presenter for making the payment.
“Earlier today I made a payment of €150,000 to RTÉ,” Mr Tubridy said in a statement on Friday afternoon.
“I made this payment through my solicitor, without any discussions with RTÉ – or with anyone acting on their behalf – and without condition.”
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The statement concluded with Mr Tubridy stressing he had “said on various occasions that I intended making this payment and I’m happy to have been able to do so today”.
A spokesman for RTÉ confirmed it received payment of €150,000 from Ryan Tubridy via his solicitor on Friday afternoon.
“RTÉ welcomes the payment and would like to thank Ryan Tubridy for making it,“ the two-line statement concluded.
Mr Tubridy, who now works for Virgin Radio UK, and has his programmes broadcast in the Republic on Q102 and other channels, was to be paid a total of €225,000 over three years by RTÉ as part of a deal brokered by him, his agent Noel Kelly and the station in 2020.
In return for the payments, which were not disclosed publicly by RTÉ until the summer of 2023, he agreed to participate in three corporate events for Late Late Show sponsor Renault.
The payments were nominally made by the car maker but RTÉ underwrote all three which meant it effectively paid Mr Tubridy. The sums were not classified in the broadcaster’s annual accounts as salary payments.
At the height of the controversy over the “secret payments” in 2023, Mr Tubridy indicated he would be willing to repay the money should he return to RTÉ.
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Asked in 2023 if Mr Tubridy should repay the €150,000 received for those events, RTE’s director general Kevin Bakhurst said it might not be possible, on a legal basis, to recoup the money.
But he also said there was a “moral case” for Mr Tubridy to repay the sum.
The chairman of the Oireachtas Committee on Media and Arts Alan Kelly welcomed the payment but expressed the view that it “does not bring an end to the issues at RTÉ. There are issues regarding governance, regarding transparency, and we need to ensure that into the future, the broadcaster is fit for purpose”.
The payment came as it emerged that RTÉ paid out more than €360,000 in fees to guests and contributors for its top TV and radio shows over the past 12 months
A total of €128,500 was paid for appearances on the Late Late Show. Their next highest bill was for Today with Claire Byrne where guest costs came to more than €68,000 between July 2024 and June 2025.
RTÉ said fees were paid to guests and contributors, including local and international journalists, artists, and musicians for the time they gave up taking part in a show. However, people promoting films, albums, programmes, or books were not usually paid nor were political representatives who appeared on TV or radio.
