RTÉ payments controversy: Who did what and when?

2019

October-December: RTÉ in discussions with Ryan Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly and his company NK Management Agent to agree a new contract on reduced terms in line with public commitments to reduce “top talent” fees.

December 19th: Following a meeting between RTÉ's director general Dee Forbes and Kelly, the then RTÉ chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe, who left RTÉ at the end of March 2020, sets out a financial proposal to the agent, which outlined an offset of the exit payment due in his previous contract, a 15 per cent cut in fees from RTÉ, and referenced facilitating a possible additional commercial agreement (what later became the “tripartite agreement’) to the value of €75,000 per contract year.

2020

March 10th: A draft contract from RTÉ is sent to agent.

March 20th: Agent responds encloses a draft side letter stating RTÉ will guarantee and underwrite the commercial agreement.

Catherine Martin to bring RTÉ funding plans to Cabinet ‘soon’, as final reports into governance scandal submitted

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The Bookshelf: Ryan Tubridy’s new podcast may be the best vehicle to date for this one-time Jack of all RTÉ

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March 20th-July 21st: RTÉ finalises terms of contract, wording of side letters, and arrangements with commercial sponsor, Renault Ireland.

[ Miriam Lord: A terrible day for the RTÉ team, thoroughly demolished by the PAC and with a rematch on the cards ]

May 7th: Video meeting with Kelly, Forbes and RTÉ solicitor providing verbal guarantee RTÉ would underwrite commercial agreement.

July 21st-24th: Contract for services from April 1st, 2020, to March 31st, 2025, a side letter from RTÉ guaranteeing contract fees is executed.

July 24th-27th: The outline of a commercial agreement with a commercial partner is confirmed and communicated to Kelly. Agent issues an invoice to commercial partner for €75,000 for “bespoke partnership between [commercial partner] and Ryan Tubridy to include personal appearances. Programme of activity to be agreed between [commercial partner], RTÉ and NK Management”.

July 31st: Credit note issued by RTÉ to Renault, which in effect reduced the cost of the commercial partner’s overall sponsorship by €75,000. This ensured the arrangement was cost-neutral to Renault.

July 27th-October 22nd: Various correspondence seeking clarification of details of agreement with Renault. The execution of the tripartite agreement – personal appearances by Tubridy – was affected by Covid and those agreed appearances did not happen until between March and May 2022.

[ RTÉ pay crisis deepens over use of €275,000 from ‘slush fund’ for sports junkets ]

2021

March 26th: Tubridy’s agent contacts RTÉ looking to meet to discuss contract.

March 29th-April 22nd: Internal communications within RTÉ regarding the “best way to proceed” with third party arrangement and tripartite agreement furnished by agent.

December 31st: The tripartite agreement ends.

2022

January 13th-March 29th 2022: Agent seeks payment from RTÉ on foot of the underwriting of the commercial agreement.

April 25th: Forbes and Kelly hold talks resulting in an email request by the agent for invoicing details.

May 9th: Tubridy’s agent raises an invoice for €75,000 in respect of year two [2021] of the tripartite agreement.

May 25th: RTÉ pays agent via UK barter account, in respect of year two. This payment was recorded in the barter account at a value of €115,380.

[ What is a barter account? Meaning of term at centre of RTÉ Tubridy payments controversy ]

July 6th: The agent raises an invoice for €75,000 in respect of year three (2022) of the tripartite agreement.

July 20th: RTÉ pays the agent, via UK barter account, in respect of year three. This payment was recorded in the barter account at a value of €115,380. In addition, RTÉ pays via barter account for the costs of hosting the Renault commercial sponsor events with Tubridy in 2022. The actual cost of the events was €30,586. These payments were recorded in the barter account to the tune of €47,477, a cost to RTÉ.

2023

March: During what RTÉ says was a “routine” examination of its 2022 accounts, the two transactions in the barter account are queried by auditors, which in turn prompts the audit and risk committee to obtain external legal advice and appoint Grant Thornton to examine the transactions further.

March 16th: Tubridy stands down as host of Late Late Show.

March 17th: Board first becomes aware of Tubridy payments issue.

June 16th: Grant Thornton report is submitted to RTÉ's audit and risk committee. Committee recommends board seek resignation of Forbes. Board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh asks Forbes to resign.

June 22nd: RTÉ publicly reveals it failed to disclose payments of €345,000 to Tubridy since 2017 over and above his published earnings. Ms Ní Raghallaigh says RTÉ board had not been aware of the extra payments before the issues were identified in March. Tubridy says the issue a matter for RTÉ.

June 23rd: Comedian Oliver Callan presents Ryan Tubridy radio show. RTÉ issues statement saying Ms Forbes had been suspended on June 21st. Moya Doherty, previous chairwoman of RTÉ's board until November 2022, says at no point did she or other members of the board know about the extra payments. Interim deputy director general of RTÉ Adrian Lynch says Tubridy will not appear on RTÉ radio for “editorial reasons”.

Tubridy issues second statement apologising for not asking questions about the fact his pay was higher than disclosed publicly by RTÉ. Says issue had no bearing on decision to step down from hosting the Late Late Show. He is disappointed RTÉ has decided he should not present his radio programme the following week and he looked forward to returning “as soon as possible”.

June 26th: Forbes tenders her resignation and it is accepted.

June 27th: RTÉ publishes first Grant Thornton review. It makes no finding of wrongdoing on the part of Tubridy in relation to any payments made by RTÉ or on the part of the commercial partner. RTÉ says a second Grant Thornton review dealing with the period 2017-2019 will be published at a later date. Staff at RTÉ stage protests at Montrose and regional offices.

June 28th: Members of RTÉ board and executive appear before Oireachtas media committee. They say they are not aware of any other RTÉ top 10 earners having pay arrangements similar to Tubridy. The committee intends to invite Mr Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly to a appear before it.

[ RTÉ’s PAC hearing: 10 things we learned on an ‘extraordinary’ day ]

June 29th: Members and former members of RTÉ board and executive appear before the Public Accounts Committee. Lynch says it was “possible” Tubridy had been aware the issue of the additional payments before his departure from Late Late Show. Ní Raghallaigh says reporting of payments to Tubridy were an act “designed to deceive”.

She said RTÉ needs to look at how it spends money, starting with its highest earners. Details of €1.5 million barter account use, including for entertaining clients, revealed. PAC chair Brian Stanley says committee will soon seek powers to compel Forbes to appear.

June 30th: Taoiseach Leo Varadkar says PAC revelations about barter account “a matter of real concern” and suggests accounting rules and company law may have been breached.

Center Parcs announces it is not continuing its €295,000 sponsorship deal for Tubridy radio show. Callan says he will be presenting radio show again next Monday.