Lack of transparency from RTÉ over pay controversy has hit licence fee payments, Minister says

Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has linked a lack of transparency from RTÉ during the controversy over payments to Ryan Tubridy to a decline in the numbers paying for the TV licence.

Mr Donohoe and Minister for Higher Education Simon Harris on Tuesday called on the State broadcaster to publish a second report into the matter, which RTÉ on Monday said had been submitted to it by accounting firm Grant Thornton.

The report, commissioned almost eight weeks ago into how RTÉ underdeclared Tubridy’s income by €120,000 in its 2017-2019 public statements on top presenters’ pay, follows an earlier examination by Grant Thornton of €225,000 in hidden payments made to the former presenter of The Late Late Show between 2020 and last year.

Speaking on Tuesday, Mr Harris said he believed it was appropriate for the RTÉ executive to consider the findings of the report, but that it should then be published. He said it was vital that “RTÉ continue to try and swiftly make progress” in dealing with the issues and that a “huge amount of work” had been done by the company’s new director general, Kevin Bakhurst.

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Mr Tubridy remains off the air following the controversy, and RTÉ is facing falling licence fee income and a Government review of governance that is likely to prompt a fundamental overhaul of the organisation.

‘Lack of transparency’

Mr Donohoe called for transparency around the issues that have arisen. “The most important response back to the concern that many do have, which has impacted on TV licence payment levels, is to bring transparency to the issues that have been at the heart of concerns. The lack of transparency has been at the heart of this.”

Asked about the financial situation at RTÉ given the drop in TV licence sales, Mr Donohoe said it was vital that the licence fee is paid. He said he could understand why people might not want to pay, but urged them to do so.

Mr Harris and Mr Donohoe were speaking as a plan to increase the number of annual apprenticeships across the public service was announced.

In a statement, RTÉ said that the “second Grant Thornton Report has been furnished and will now be the subject of detailed consideration by both the audit and risk committee of the RTÉ board and the broader board itself. This process is ongoing.”

Earlier, a member of the Dáil’s Public Accounts Committee (PAC) called on RTÉ to submit the report to the committee and publish it so as to “give clarity” about the controversy.

‘Wrap this up’

Paul McAuliffe, a Fianna Fáil TD, on Tuesday said the committee was “very conscious that in the overall scale of public spending this is a small story, albeit one that strikes to the very heart of trust”.

“We are hopeful that we would wrap this up, that we would get these answers, and that we will be able to publish a report [into the affair],” he told Newstalk Breakfast.

Both the PAC and the Oireachtas Committee on Media have sought access to the report and are awaiting a copy of it once it has been fully considered by senior executives in the broadcaster. Further appearances by RTÉ bosses before both committees are expected to take place when the Dáil returns from its summer recess next month.

Mr McAuliffe said the PAC has been informed by the Oireachtas parliamentary legal affairs section that the committee is “in a strong position” if it chooses to compel witnesses to come and discuss matters regarding the broadcaster.

He said a question remained as to whether it would be necessary to compel former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes to attend a committee hearing. Ms Forbes, who resigned at the height of the controversy before the end of her term, did not attend earlier hearings, citing ill health.