RTÉ crisis: Further documents show Renault events cost broadcaster €70,000

A fresh batch of documents from RTÉ show the cost to the national broadcaster from the Late Late Show sponsor Renault running three events with presenter Ryan Tubridy last year ran up to nearly €70,000.

Under the deal, which is at the centre of the scandal over secret payments to Mr Tubridy, Renault was to pay the presenter €75,000 a year in exchange for three public appearances.

The agreement was underwritten by RTÉ which left the broadcaster paying the presenter €150,000 last year, in payments now under scrutiny.

Documents from RTÉ sent to the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC) late on Monday show RTÉ spent a further €70,000 to stage the Renault events.

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RTÉ executives had previously told Oireachtas committees they believed staging the three events last year had cost RTÉ about €30,000.

The latest briefing document said while the cost to RTÉ of running the events had been €30,586, this rose to €47,477 when it was recorded in its barter account, due to associated fees. The broadcaster spent a further €22,000 building sets for the events, the document stated.

RTÉ said the three events were overseen by a producer from the broadcaster “to ensure the Late Late brand was not involved” as the events were tied to Mr Tubridy and not the RTÉ show, it said.

Speaking at the Oireachtas committee on media hearing on Tuesday, Mr Tubridy said there were six events still contracted to take place under the deal.

Mr Tubridy said if the events did not go ahead he would repay the money he received for the appearances in advance.

The documents, received by the PAC at close to 10pm on Monday, provided a more detailed breakdown of other spending from RTÉ's controversial barter account, which was used to pay for hospitality events for clients.

The exact cost of bringing clients to a U2 concert in Croke Park in 2017 was €10,184, which covered about 40 people for tickets, food, drink and transport.

Another event paid through the barter account in the K Club golf course cost €26,012, including green fees, food and drink, and some merchandise.

RTÉ refused to disclose who were the clients it brought on a trip to the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan, which cost more than €111,000 paid through the barter account, as only four guests were on the trip.

The batch of documents also show Mr Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly is credited in RTÉ with having the initial idea for what became the TV programme Operation Transformation.

The credit states the programme grew out of an “initial radio concept created by Noel Kelly”, in reference to an earlier iteration of the idea that featured on Gerry Ryan’s radio show.

The records included correspondence between Mr Kelly and Paula Mullooly, RTÉ director of legal, after Grant Thornton had begun their initial investigation into payments to Mr Tubridy.

In a May 3rd email this year, Ms Mullooly said she was dealing “with some queries from our auditors” and sought confirmation that invoices for two now controversial payments of €75,000, linked to the Renault deal, were made to Mr Tubridy.

After initially seeking to see copies of the “specific queries” from the auditors, Mr Kelly later confirmed the two payments related to the deal underwritten by RTÉ.

Further documents included a draft March 2020 letter from then director general Dee Forbes to Mr Tubridy which confirmed RTÉ “shall guarantee” the annual €75,000 extra payment from Renault.