RTÉ pay controversy: Grant Thornton review an ‘arrow through the heart’ of staff-management relationship

RTÉ's board on Wednesday acknowledged governance “failures” over Ryan Tubridy’s pay as it released a long-awaited report by accountants Grant Thornton into statements that under-declared his 2017-2019 income by €120,000.

The latest Grant Thornton report follows a June paper by the accountants on Tubridy’s 2020-2022 pay, which set off a political furore over top presenter pay at RTÉ and its corporate culture. A sharp drop in the number of people renewing the TV licence has since led to a financial crisis in the national broadcaster.

Here are the key takeaways:

• Ryan Tubridy’s earnings figures from 2017 to 2019 were publicly understated due to adjustments made by RTÉ's financial department.
• Neither Mr Tubridy nor NK Management which represents him had any involvement in those adjustments.
• Crucially, the Grant Thornton report “suggests a hypothesis” the adjustments were made so that “revised earnings” were below a figure of €500,000 in each year.
• Poor governance including significant deficiencies in internal management controls, failures in finance, and a lack of communication from the executive to the board are set out.
• Mr Tubridy waived the €120,000 exit fee in his contract and this was not paid. He was not involved in 2020 contract negotiations, did not receive emails or attend meetings.
• The presenter had no involvement in the adjustments made by RTÉ in 2020 to published earnings totaling €120,000 for 2017 and 2019.
• In March, 2020, those involved in finance at RTÉ had the opportunity to “raise a flag” that earlier proposed accounting treatment of adjusting 2017, 2018 and 2019 was “no longer appropriate”.
• Three Deloitte reports were provided to RTE finance staff but not passed to the board or the audit and risk committee, even thought it was addressed to board members.
• The Remuneration and Management Development Committee of the RTE board was not provided with details of “top talent” earnings list prior to its publication in January, 2021. This will now change.
• The report author noted that “several individuals who I met have views about their responsibilities and the responsibilities of others”.
• Between 2008 and 2016, no errors were found in the reported earnings of Mr Tubridy.
• RTÉ chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh says the report confirms a prevailing “siloed management culture” and a programme of reform is essential.
• You can read the full report here

Ryan Tubridy has welcomed the findings and said he hopes to re-establish the trust of his colleagues and listeners.

One final thing. We have a statement from Deloitte who feature prominently in the report. It is pretty terse.

“Deloitte engaged extensively with the authors of the report and our position is set out in the text of report”.

Okay, that’s pretty much it for today although it seems likely that this story has some distance to go before we get to the end of the line.

The Chairman of the Public Accounts Committee Brian Stanley was on Drivetime this evening and was asked about the future of Ryan Tubridy. He declined to say if he thought the presenter should return to the national broadcaster although he did suggest that an apology for not clarifying his salary and the return of €150,000 would help. It had to be pointed out that Tubridy has already apologised “unreservedly” for not making it clear that the salary figures were released by RTE were wrong.

RTÉ is seeking clarification from Ryan Tubridy after a statement issued by the presenter led to annoyance among management at the broadcaster, writes Jack Horgan-Jones.

Mr Tubridy released a short statement on Wednesday afternoon, following the publication of a report by Grant Thornton into statements that under-declared his income by €120,000.

In his statement, Mr Tubridy said that “it is also clear that my actual income from RTÉ in 2020 and 2021 matches what was originally published as my earnings for those years and RTÉ has not yet published its top ten earner details for 2022″.

But on Wednesday evening, the broadcaster told The Irish Times that it was now seeking further clarification from Mr Tubridy regarding this line in his statement.

RTÉ restated the figures paid to Mr Tubridy in each of those years after it emerged that it had paid him €150,000 in 2022, and backstopped a payment of €75,000 in 2021 made by Renault, under a secret tripartite agreement between the broadcaster, the presenter and the carmaker.

It is understood Mr Tubridy’s assertion rests on the fact that he was not paid the €150,000 until 2022, and that the payments came via a barter company called Astus, or in the case of the €75,000 paid in 2021, from Renualt. The car manufacturer was later issued a credit note for this payment by RTÉ, making it cost neutral for the company which was then the Late Late Show sponsor.

“Regarding Ryan Tubridy’s comments in his statement today, RTÉ is currently seeking clarification as to their meaning,” RTÉ said today.

It is understood that Mr Tubridy’s camp believe a table in today’s Grant Thornton report supports their contention. A comment published by Grant Thornton next to the table outlines how the investigator performed a reconciliation between RTÉ's payments software and originally published earnings and that “no issues were identified”.

Asked if the line in Mr Tubridy’s statement was a correct reflection of the facts, an RTÉ spokesman referred back to restated earnings for 2020 and 2021 which the broadcaster released in June, showing his income higher than stated.

The emergence of a spat between the two camps comes as speculation grows that a conclusion to talks between RTÉ and Mr Tubridy over his potential return to the station is nearing. Kevin Bakhurst, the RTÉ director general, told the Irish Times last week that there was an urgency to the situation and that he expected them to be concluded in the next week or two.

Ryan Tubridy’s management agency, NK Management, issued a new statement on Wednesday evening in light of the Grant Thornton report.

“NK Management welcomes the publication of the report by Grant Thornton today.

“In particular, we welcome the findings that NK Management had no role or involvement whatsoever in relation to the underreporting by RTÉ of earnings by Mr Tubridy for the period 2017 to 2019, and that NK Management had brought its concerns in relation to this proposed accounting treatment of such earnings to the attention of RTÉ in advance of their publication.”

The publication of the second Grant Thornton investigation into RTE’s misreporting of payments to Ryan represents the most significant development in the story since Oireachtas committee hearings on the issue concluded in early July. It addresses some, but not all, of the questions that were not answered then and it begins the next chapter of (hopefully) restructuring and renewal. Hugh Linehan has more.

The RTÉ Trade Union Group (TUG) has said it is “gravely disturbed” by the findings of the second Grant Thornton Review.

At a meeting of the TUG Executive today there was a preliminary discussion on the report.

It said in a statement that the “report gives rise to a number of questions about corporate governance failures, the role of the auditor, Deloitte and critically, for the TUG, the manner in which RTÉ engaged with its own workers, its trade unions and with the board.

“Trust is the cornerstone of good governance. It is also at the heart of the relationship between management and unions. We hope that the reviews on corporate governance and HR established by the government will provide the framework for dealing with the fundamental issues in the report.”

The statement concluded by saying the “trust that was shattered will not be easy to rebuild and trade unions will judge RTÉ by the actions and attitude of the management and Board of RTÉ from today.

Here’s an interesting take from our own Laura Slattery.

How popular is Ryan Tubridy as a radio presenter? The erstwhile Late Late host has reiterated his keenness to re-occupy his RTÉ Radio 1 slot, saying today that he is “committed to re-establishing the confidence and trust” of colleagues and listeners.

A return seems more likely than not.

So what would he be coming back to? In the 12 months to the end of March, The Ryan Tubridy Show garnered an audience of 335,000 listeners, according to the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) – a rolling industry survey of more than 1,600 people about their radio habits. This made his 9am-10am programme on the RTÉ station the second most listened-to show on Irish radio as of the end of March.

The slot is, no doubt, helped by the fact it “inherits” an audience from Morning Ireland – the number one programme on Irish radio.

But the 9am-10am slot hasn’t always been the number two show, with Liveline and both the late Marian Finucane and her weekend successor Brendan O’Connor claiming that title at various points in the past. The listenership for Radio 1′s 10 am-midday Today show has also been higher than the slot that precedes it in the schedule on occasion too.

And while Tubridy’s audience has dropped since his whopping Covid lockdown peak of 381,000, the listenership for the slot is notably higher than it was when he returned to Radio 1 in mid-2015 after a five-year stint on 2fm. Of course, not all of that is down to the presenter. Much of the credit must also go to the team of producers and researchers who help bring the show to air.

An update on the JNLR, meanwhile, is due to be published tomorrow. As this new survey was conducted over the 12 months to the end of June, the figures won’t reflect Tubridy’s summer banishment from Radio 1. But they will show how he was faring with listeners up to the moment he was taken off air.

Hello Conor Pope here and I will be looking after your Live News story needs for the afternoon. Stand by please.

Seamus Dooley, Irish secretary of the National Union of Journalists, has described the Grant Thornton report into RTÉ as “an arrow through the heart” of the relationship between staff and management, Vivienne Clarke reports.

“It confirms my worst suspicions,” he told RTÉ radio’s News at One. “Trust is fundamental to the relationship between the public service broadcaster and its audience, but also the foundation of a relationship between an employer and its workers. And this was a deliberate attempt to conceal the truth.”

Mr Dooley noted that Ryan Tubridy and his agent had objected to attempts to conceal some payments to him in 2020. “So there was a conspiracy here.”

While the report was predictable in some respects, it was “absolutely devastating” and staff at the station were in a “state of intense anger”.

It was now obvious there had been a deliberate attempt to suppress salaries, he said, “so that it would appear that some people were earning less than they actually were, so that other people would take cuts.”

Trust had been broken and it would be very difficult to restore, he warned. Mr Dooley welcomed the statement by the chairwoman of the board of RTÉ.

“I think that the chair this morning has made a good start. I think the director general has made a good start. But this will not be easy. If you fool me once, you know, it’s bad enough. But we just really feel betrayed. And I couldn’t overstate the level of anger in this organisation today.”

Of course a key question now, and one of arguably far more interest to the public, is what future awaits Ryan Tubridy. Much of the report appears to be positive for the popular radio presenter who is keen to return to the airwaves.

However, in an interview on the News at One RTÉ board chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh dodged that immediate question, stating it was a matter for director general Kevin Bakhurst.

“In relation to Mr Tubridy I’m glad that [the report] stated that, that it said that they [Mr Tubridy and his agent] had no hand, act or part in this element of the understatement [of his pay],” she said.

“In relation to Mr Tubridy’s future within RTÉ, that’s a matter for the director general. The board’s obligations under the Broadcasting Act are not in the day-to-day running of the organisation.”

As to whether his return would be supported, she said there appeared to be a 50/50 split in opinion but that she would like to see a decision taken sooner rather than later.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she would encourage former director general Dee Forbes and director of content Jim Jennings to engage with Grant Thornton for a supplementary report.

Neither have been available to address the ongoing crisis.

“I believe there are health issues there, but when they’re ready I would encourage them to speak with Grant Thornton,” she said.

The chairwoman said she was concerned about RTÉ finances, particularly in light of falling licence fee revenue but that the organisation was not facing immediate solvency concerns.

“Of course if things were to continue in this manner it does become a problem.”

The RTÉ board is likely to be invited to appear before the Oireachtas Media Committee.

Committee chairwoman Niamh Smyth said the overarching content of Wednesday’s report, particularly the “siloed attitude of the executive to the board”, did not surprise her.

It would be helpful to engage with the board, she said, adding it was now a matter of shifting focus from the financial reporting to the issue of governance and oversight.

“Reading through the document myself I would hope that in the very near future myself and my committee colleagues would have an opportunity to sit around, have a discussion about it,” she told RTÉ's News at One.

“Perhaps it would be an opportunity to hear from the board collectively because what stands out to me is the fact that the board were blindsided by a lot of this.”

Ms Smyth said the committee had heard much from the executive but not yet from board members.

“It would appear that they were treated with contempt, you might say, in the sense that they had a very important role, maybe the most important oversight role for RTÉ, and they just weren’t allowed or enabled to do their job it would appear.”

We cannot allow these failures to be repeated – Bakhurst

RTÉ Director-General, Kevin Bakhurst, who found himself dealing with immediate crisis at the beginning of his tenure, has issued the following response to the report:

“Clearly, operational failures identified within the RTÉ finance function significantly contributed to the misstatement of fees paid.

“Understanding this, alongside the insights into the broader governance failures, will be very helpful as we set about widescale governance and procedural reform within RTÉ.

“We cannot allow these failures to be repeated, and the focus of the Interim Leadership Team is on implementing the recommendations of the corporate governance advisor, as well as progressing with the implementation of other systemic reforms, such as the register of interests.”

Ryan Tubridy has issued the following statement:

I welcome the findings of the Grant Thornton Report, published today.

I also welcome the report’s findings that I did not claim €120,000 in fees which was due to me in 2020 and that I did not agree with how RTÉ proposed to account for this decision.

It is also clear that my actual income from RTÉ in 2020 and 2021 matches what was originally published as my earnings for those years and RTÉ has not yet published its top ten earner details for 2022.

I repeat my offer to publish the details of any future RTÉ contract.

I am committed to re-establishing the confidence and trust of my colleagues and listeners, and I hope that any fair assessment of the findings of today’s report will help in this regard.

Finally, I want to acknowledge the huge support that I have received in recent weeks from people across the country; many cards and letters, greetings on the street and words of support from people I bumped into meant an awful lot to me and I appreciate them all very much.

Irish Times media writer Laura Slattery reports that aspects of the Grant Thornton report hint at wider constraints on programme-making at RTÉ during the years when Ryan Tubridy was being paid in excess of €500,000.

In Mr Tubridy’s 2015-2020 agreement, RTÉ contracted the presenter to make himself available for a series of up to eight 52-minute episodes for each contract year and three one-off specials. These were to be discussed between the RTÉ executive and Mr Tubridy.

In the event, none of these programmes were made, so the services were neither called upon nor delivered.

“We buy the hours. If we don’t use them, we don’t use them,” a RTÉ employee identified as “Person 3″ in the report tells Grant Thornton. This person speculates that this might be for budget reasons.

Person 3 mentions that “both Mr Tubridy and RTÉ were keen to do them but funding is always a problem”.

As a result, because RTÉ was “haemorrhaging money”, there appears to have been a rethink about this element of Mr Tubridy’s contract.

When contract renegotiations came up, it was clear that “content managers” didn’t want the option of these hours, Person 3 recalls, adding: “They would have said we definitely don’t want additional TV hours.”

Jack Horgan-Jones has more political reaction:

Brian Stanley, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee, says his initial view is that the report has given rise to questions for Deloitte - RTÉ's auditor. “It’s clear here that there was a discrepancy between the published figures and the actual figures including in the RTÉ payroll,” said the Sinn Féin TD for Laois-Offaly.

“Deloitte need to explain, I believe – did they not see this, why was it missed and how was it missed, and if it wasn’t missed and if they did see this, did they bring it to the attention of RTÉ, what was the response of RTÉ and why wasn’t it corrected in the final audit?”

The publication of the report raises the prospect of another round of Oireachtas committee hearings, with the return of the Dáil next month drawing closer.

Senator Marie Sherlock, the Labour Party spokeswoman on Arts and Media and a member of the Oireachtas media committee, said the report “appears to confirm the disarray that prevailed within RTÉ management and the shocking lack of communication between the board, audit committee and the executive”.

“While the fault lies squarely with RTÉ management, Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly did nothing publicly to correct the fictitious figures published,” she said.

“While we very much welcome the publication of this report, the reality now is that there is a political vacuum where we see licence fee revenue falling and no expected response from Government and RTÉ for many weeks/months.

“Government need to take the opportunity arising from today’s report to provide reassurance on how it will fund RTÉ in the near term and set out when it will announce the long-term financing model.”

The final segment of headline findings, in summary, includes:

• Some of the aspects identified do not reflect good corporate governance.
• The Remuneration and Management Development Committee of the RTÉ board was not provided with details of the “top talent” earnings list prior to its publication in January, 2021. This will now change.
• Because the financial adjustments in question were not recorded in RTÉ’s “general ledger”, but rather on spreadsheets, it did not affect the company’s broader financial statements.
• Interestingly, after all the aforementioned findings, its author notes that “several individuals who I met have views about their responsibilities and the responsibilities of others”.
• Between 2008 and 2016, no errors were found in the reported earnings of Mr Tubridy.

Minister for Media Catherine Martin has just responded to the report. Here is her statement in full:

I welcome the publication by RTÉ of the report by Grant Thornton into the understatement by RTÉ of the fees paid to presenter Ryan Tubridy for the years 2017 to 2019.

The report highlights further lapses in governance and failure of proper internal controls and processes within RTÉ, which are deeply concerning.

I have spoken to the Chair and stressed the need for RTÉ to act with urgency to address these lapses and ensure that robust processes are put in place without delay. This is essential to restore the trust and confidence which is expected of a public service broadcaster. It is also of key importance that RTÉ co-operates fully with the Oireachtas Committees which have been examining these matters.

The Chair has committed to a programme of reforms within RTÉ and in addition, the Expert Advisory Committees which I established last month will continue with their important work. A copy of this Grant Thornton report will be provided to the Expert Advisory Committee on Governance and Culture so that they may consider its findings as part of their examination of the wider governance structures and culture within RTÉ, and bring recommendations to ensure best practice is adopted.

My Department has also appointed Crowe Advisory Ireland for the provision of professional services to support each of the Expert Advisory Committees. My officials continue to also support the work of the Committees.

The examination of how negotiations panned out are highly complex but other findings included that:

• On March 23rd, 2020, those involved in finance at RTÉ had the opportunity to “raise a flag” that the marked up version of Mr Tubridy’s agreement / side letter did not correspond with the draft agreement and “importantly that the earlier proposed accounting treatment of adjusting 2017, 2018 and 2019 was no longer appropriate”.
• Three Deloitte reports were provided to RTÉ finance staff but not then to the board or the audit and risk committee, even thought it was addressed to board members.
• As a consequence of several such factors, RTÉ’s finance function remained “on the course set in February, 2020 believing that it was appropriate [to] offset the exit fee against a supposed refund of fees due from Tuttle to RTÉ for undelivered services”.
• On balance, March 20th, 2020; March 23rd, 2020; and April 6th, 2020 “were dates on which RTÉ’s direction could have been changed”.

No doubt political reaction will accelerate throughout the day as people consumer the lengthy report and its significance in several key areas. For now, our political reporter Jack Horgan-Jones has this:

The political system is digesting the 79-page report this morning, with no statement as of yet from the Minister for Arts and Culture Catherine Martin nor the Coalition leaders. However, backbenchers and committee members are predicting the focus will fall on bean-counters rather than “top talent” following publication.

“A lot of the questions will be on the accounting and auditing side,” said Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne on Wednesday morning. Making reference to a previous appearance by Mr Tubridy at the media committee, which Mr Byrne sits on, the Wexford politician suggested that an initial reading of the report drew the focus off the presenter.

“I think Ryan Tubridy was correct when he answered my question that the only thing he did wrong was he didn’t question the figures.”

Wednesday’s report identifies “several failures”.

“At the core, the significance arising from the changes made in the Marked up Version of the draft agreement / draft Side Letter provided by NK Management to RTÉ were not properly detected, assessed, nor understood by certain key individuals in the RTÉ Finance team during March 2020 and April 2020.”

This in from Arthur Beesley:

RTÉ's board acknowledged governance “failures” over Ryan Tubridy’s pay as it released a long-awaited report by accountants Grant Thornton into statements that under-declared his 2017-2019 income by €120,000.

The latest Grant Thornton report follows a June paper by the accountants on Tubridy’s 2020-2022 pay, which set off a political furore over top presenter pay at RTÉ and its corporate culture. A sharp drop in the number of people renewing the TV licence has since led to a financial crisis in the national broadcaster.

The misleading declarations about Tubridy’s earnings conveyed the impression he received less than €500,000 in 2017-2019 even though he was paid more than sum each year. In a statement on Wednesday morning, the RTÉ board said the lower incorrect figures were used keep Tubridy’s published pay below €500,000.

“The report suggests a hypothesis that on the balance of probabilities adjustments were made for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 in order to allow for ‘revised earnings’ below a figure of €500,000 in each year,” the board said.

The board also said the report makes it clear that neither Tubridy nor his agent Noel Kelly “had any involvement” in the pay adjustments published for 2017–2019.

The board added: “The report highlights poor governance including significant deficiencies in internal management controls, failures in the finance function, and a lack of communication from the executive to the board.”

Siúin Ní Raghallaigh, chairwoman of RTÉ, said the report “paints a picture of poor internal communication and weak processes” and identified specific dates where errors could have been corrected but were not.

“It is also clear from the report that the then executive did not properly engage with the Board on these matters, nor was relevant information provided to the Board by the Executive or by the auditors,” the chairwoman said.

“We will be taking on board the issues raised by the report and will be engaging with RTÉ's auditors, Deloitte, to discuss the contents of same.”

Here is a summary of some of the findings:

• – The adjustments made by RTÉ in June, 2023 restating the published earnings of Mr Tubridy between 2017 and 2019 “were appropriate”.
• – The published earnings figures for that time were understated.
• – The figures as restated earlier this year match those within the RTÉ payment system.
• – Mr Tubridy waived the €120,000 exit fee in his contract and this was not paid.
• – Mr Tubridy was not personally involved in 2020 contract negotiations. And he did not send or receive copies of emails circulated as part of those negotiations, nor did he attend meetings between RTÉ management and his agent.
• – “In short, Mr Tubridy had no involvement in the adjustments made by RTÉ in 2020 to published earnings totalling €120,000 for 2017 and 2019.

A full copy of the, very technical, report can be accessed here.

Here is the accompanying statement in full from the RTÉ board:

The Report confirms that 2017-2019 earning figures for Mr Tubridy were publicly understated due to adjustments made by RTÉ's financial department.

The Report confirms that the Board of RTÉ was correct in restating Mr Tubridy’s publicly disclosed earnings for the period between 2017 and 2019.

The Report makes clear that neither Mr Tubridy nor NK Management had any involvement in the adjustments for the period 2017 – 2019.

The Report confirms that while the earnings were publicly understated, there was no impact on RTÉ's financial statements as a result of these adjustments.

The Report suggests a hypothesis that on the balance of probabilities adjustments were made for the years 2017, 2018 and 2019 in order to allow for ‘revised earnings’ below a figure of €500,000 in each year.

The Report highlights poor governance including significant deficiencies in internal management controls, failures in the finance function, and a lack of communication from the Executive to the Board.

The Chair of RTÉ, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, stated: “Regrettably this Report confirms our view of the siloed management culture that has prevailed in RTÉ and supports the decision by the Board to initiate an ongoing programme of corrective action.

“The Report paints a picture of poor internal communication and weak processes.

“The Report identifies specific dates whereby errors could have been corrected but were not and key documents that could have been effectively interrogated but were not.

“It is also clear from the Report that the then Executive did not properly engage with the Board on these matters, nor was relevant information provided to the Board by the Executive or by the auditors.

“We will be taking on board the issues raised by the Report and will be engaging with RTÉ's auditors, Deloitte, to discuss the contents of same.

“Steps have been taken to ensure there can be no repeat of these failures. Working with Director General Kevin Bakhurst, the Board of RTÉ remains committed to an ongoing programme of reform and recovery for the organisation. I hope that the publication of this Report represents an important staging point in RTÉ's rebuilding of trust with the public and stakeholders,” her statement concluded.

The RTÉ board has now published the report.

It has called it “phase two of the second report by Grant Thornton, commissioned by the Audit and Risk Committee to examine issues surrounding the public disclosure of earnings by Mr Ryan Tubridy”.

The board of RTÉ is releasing the full report subject to minor redactions for anonymity purposes in relation to more junior staff, it said.

We will bring you full details and analysis.

RTÉ’s licence fee income dropped by almost another €900,000 last week over the same period last year as the crisis over RTÉ's funding continues, new figures show, Jack Horgan-Jones reports.

According to data released on Wednesday by the Department of Arts and Media, TV licence sales for the second week of August were 7,166 compared to 12,610 for the corresponding week in 2022.

This equates to a drop in income of €871,040, with 5,444 fewer payers of the €160 licence fee than the same week last year.

The latest decline comes against a fall of €2.7 million in July, and more than €900,000 in the first week in August.

Not all the licence fee income goes to RTÉ, but the majority does, and the shortfall in licence fee income presents a medium-term challenge to the broadcaster – which is still dealing with the fallout from the controversy over undisclosed payments to star presenter Ryan Tubridy.

Last week, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst said it did not represent a threat to the broadcaster’s viability, and that RTÉ was not going to run out of cash this year or next.

However, he did say it could impact on investment, stalling decisions on the company’s digital platform and other parts of his planned transformation of RTÉ. “What it might affect is investment decisions in digital and in transforming the organisation ... some of them may have to be delayed until we have a little bit more certainty about funding.”

Mr Bakhurst emphasised the need for action from the Government on a long-term plan for the funding of RTÉ and licence fee reform, but said it would not be appropriate to hold substantive discussions in the coming months.

Today’s report could bring some reprieve for the under-siege presenter. The document is expected to conclude he had the right to the money he waived. And with his career in the balance, that finding potentially represents good news. The wider response to it should play out immediately, and in more detail, in the coming days and weeks.

Remember, today’s report follows a separate one last June that looked at €225,000 of hidden payments to Mr Tubridy in 2020-2022.

That sparked political turmoil over governance failings at RTÉ, and concerns of a potential financial crisis with falling licence fee income.

Both Mr Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly have always insisted the presenter was entitled to the €120,000 termination fee he waived.

A new Grant Thornton report looking into how RTÉ underdeclared Ryan Tubridy’s pay by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019 is due to be published this morning.

Deloitte, the broadcaster’s auditor, has been drawn into the controversy ahead of the report’s publication.

The report, which is being examined by the RTÉ board, is understood to set out that the misleading figures on pay RTÉ published in 2021 were different from the correct figures recorded on RTÉ's payroll systems.

This reflected a decision to not include a total of €120,000 from Mr Tubridy’s declared earnings after he waived a €120,000 termination fee due in 2020 at end of his contract. It also examines evidence Deloitte provided “independent reasonable assurance reports” to RTÉ on top presenter pay.

RTÉ's position was that Mr Tubridy’s unpaid end-of-contract fee could be set off against his actual pay because his outgoing contract said the €120,000 he waived included services additional to his radio and Late Late Show work, which were not provided.

However, Grant Thornton found the money was due to Mr Tubridy in any event because the contract reflected a “use it or lose it” position in which the €120,000 would have to be paid in 2020 even if he was not required to provide any additional services.

Evidence examined by Grant Thornton suggests Deloitte concurred with RTÉ's accounting treatment of Mr Tubridy’s pay. There was no comment from RTÉ or from Deloitte on the new Grant Thornton report.

You can read Arthur Beesley’s full story on what is expected today here.