RTÉ payments controversy: Dee Forbes resigns as director general - The Irish Times

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Where are we now?

• The RTÉ director general Dee Forbes resigned first thing Monday morning on the sixth day of a controversy surrounding secret payments to presenter Ryan Tubridy.
• The crisis that has engulfed the broadcaster since last week was described over the weekend by the Minister for Arts Catherine Martin as “existential”.
• Ms Martin announced that an external review into the governance and culture at RTÉ is to be launched within week
• She said the Government ‘s decision on the future funding model for public service broadcasting has been paused “until such time as this review is complete and the findings considered”.
• It has also emerged that two payments of €75,000 each, in relation to 2021 and 2022, were paid to the presenter’s agent by way of a so-called barter account linked to a system through which the station used advertising space to pay for certain goods and services. It was done via a London-based media bartering agency called Astus. According to a report in The Sunday Times, invoices from CMS Marketing, a business owned by Irish agent Noel Kelly, and relating to the €75,000 payments to Tubridy, were sent by RTÉ to Astus and paid out of the barter account to his agent.
• During a routine audit of the 2022 accounts “an issue” was identified in relation to the “transparency of certain payments”, according to RTÉ. In time, it led to the secret payments to Tubridy coming to the attention of the RTÉ board and eventually the public.
• The three Government party leaders will discuss the RTÉ situation at their weekly meeting this evening before the Minister for Arts and Media, Catherine Martin, briefs her Cabinet colleagues on Tuesday.
• On Wednesday, RTÉ executives will face the first of two Oireachtas committees who are investigating the scandal, when they appear at the Arts and Media Committee followed by the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday.
• On the Saturday just passed, the interim deputy director general of RTÉ Adrian Lynch apologised to staff for the breach of trust and in an email he said he shared their “shock and anger” about €345,000 in hidden payments made to Tubridy over a six-year period.
• Tubridy will not host his radio show this week. He said he was “disappointed” to be taken off the air next week but RTÉ said on Friday that presenters could not be at the centre of controversy.

I’d no prior warning, no inkling that there was a problem on the horizon

The Claire Byrne programme has just started and it is worth quoting her opening monologue in full

“Good morning and welcome to the programme. Before we start today I want to talk to you about the news that emerged here last week, over the last couple of days and indeed this morning too.

Now you might know I wasn’t here on Thursday and Friday just gone and I know that some people had linked my absence to the payments controversy and wondered if I was in some way implicated or involved.

The truth of it is I’d booked those two days off months ago. One of my children was involved in a dance competition in Kerry and we all decided to go with her and make a few days of it so the fact that I wasn’t sitting here when the news broke was a complete coincidence.

I saw and I heard that news coming in just as everyone else did. I’d no prior warning, no inkling that there was a problem on the horizon. I wasn’t even aware that presenter fees including my own were subjected to a Grant Thornton torn review. I knew absolutely nothing about it and just like everyone else I’ve been grappling over the last few days with what has happened and the implications of it for all of us here in RTE and for you.”

She said that she has listened to Liveline and heard callers talking to Joe Duffy and “heard them talking about being disappointed, about trust being broken and the importance of transparency and for me and for all the great people that I work with here every day on this show, hearing that is nothing short of heartbreaking because I can tell you that as programme makers our aim is always to be consistent, to be fair, to be professional and to respect the hard earned trust that you the audience has placed in us.

So with all of that said there are a couple of things that I want to make clear here this morning.

Firstly the fee that has been published for me most recently is correct as are those published in the past... no other payment exists or has ever existed beyond my published fee. Secondly my most recent published fee was €350,000 now that was the fee agreed by RTE for me to present both this radio program and Claire Byrne Live and as you may know I decided not to continue with that television show for personal and for family reasons

And so in order to be fully transparent with you here today I want you to know that my RTE fee now is €280,000 and that fee was agreed for presenting this program and that last contract was negotiated by Noel Kelly.

I recently presented the television quiz show ireland’s smartest and for that I was paid a separate fee of €25,000 that contract was negotiated by other members of the NK management company.

I acknowledge that fee is significant and it’s way beyond what many people could hope to earn. There are others who will no doubt have more to say about it I’m sure but my personal decision here this morning is to be open and honest with you.

Having said that my decision to do this is not meant to set a precedent for others or to force anyone else to release their information - that’s a matter entirely for themselves. I felt that for me it was the right thing to do this morning.

She concluded by saying that with that fee there “comes a duty for me to treat this position with respect and I. hope you can trust me and the team of journalists that I work with to cover this story about RTE ith the same rigor and balance as we would any other story on this programme.”

The Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe was on Newstalk this morning. Being interviewed by Pat Kenny stand-in Ivan Yates he said that the review into the secret payments controversy would have to establish “why these payments were signed off” and by who and “if this is an arrangement that has stretched beyond a single individual or a single contract”.

When asked if he believed Ryan Tubridy should return to RTÉ in advance of the completion of that external review, Mr Donohoe refused to be drawn.” “I fundamentally do not believe that politicians should decide who’s on air, I believe that is a decision that should be made by their management.”

RTÉ's chief financial officer did not have oversight of the controversial “barter account” associated with the hidden payments to Ryan Tubridy, the broadcaster has said. Colm Keena has more on who knew what and what actually happened.

One very key question that was not answered in the lengthy statement from Ms Forbes is whether or not she will appear before on or both of the Oireachtas committee meetings taking place this week. Given that she has now resigned, it is very possible she will not which might make putting the jigsaw puzzle together just a little bit tricky. Time will tell what happens on that front.

And this is the view of Micheál Martin on the unfolding developments.

“I believe there should be full presentations to the Dáil committees and obviously the former Director General would have knowledge of the entire situation, and would be in position to clarify issues to the Oireachtas committee. The Government wants the fullest possible presentation at that Oireachtas committee and anybody who knows the details could bring clarity, and that’s what the people want, it’s what the Oireachtas wants.”

For decades, people inside and outside RTÉ have wanted the organisation to change in many different ways. Could this be the moment? Could a scandal with multiple moving parts end up instigating the reform, transparency and accountability that so many know is needed?” That is the question Una Mullally is asking today

As you might imagine, the letters to the Editor about the crisis are still coming in.

Here’s just one of them from today’s paper.

Sir, – In an organisation like RTÉ that has a penchant for repeats, let’s hope the Tubridy affair is a once-off. – Yours, etc,

EUGENE KILKENNY,

Dublin 16.

Not long after the Dee Forbes statement came one from the Board of RTÉ. It was a good deal more terse.

We acknowledge receipt this morning of correspondence from Dee Forbes confirming her resignation as Director General with immediate effect. We note the contents of her accompanying statement.

Representatives of the RTÉ Board and Executive will be attending the Joint Oireachtas Committee and Public Accounts Committee this week.

The Dee Forbes statement in full

I regret very much the upset and adverse publicity suffered by RTÉ, its staff and the unease created among the public in recent days. As Director General, I am the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation and I take that responsibility seriously. I am tendering my resignation to RTÉ with immediate effect.

I have engaged with and consistently co-operated with the processes directed towards answering questions surrounding payments to Ryan Tubridy. Much of the information in the Grant Thornton Report furnished to the Board of RTÉ has emerged in recent days. There are a number of points which I think are important to emphasise.

In early 2020 RTÉ began discussions around the renewal of Ryan Tubridy’s contract. That contract contained contractual payments that had been negotiated and put in place prior to my arrival at RTÉ. Discussions on the new contract were taking place in the context of major organisational challenges and a commitment from the RTÉ Executive Board to the Board and the Government to reduce the fees paid to RTÉ's top talent by a further 15% overall as part of a wider cost cutting strategy.

As Director General, I led the discussions with the agent for Ryan Tubridy together with other RTÉ senior executives. We were keen to make a cost saving for RTÉ in respect of a contractual payment which was due to be paid. At the same time, we were attempting to retain Ryan Tubridy’s services as a valued presenter and negotiate a new contract, with the agreed 15% cost cutting target in mind. In an effort to find a solution to the budgetary challenges, we explored if a long serving commercial partner might take on a commercial relationship directly with Ryan Tubridy.

Following detailed discussions including numerous internal communications over many months with RTÉ colleagues, including finance and legal colleagues, an agreement was reached which delivered cost savings for RTÉ. This agreement meant that the commercial partner would enter into a separate commercial contract with Ryan Tubridy for €75k in exchange for the provision of three events annually.

As a result of the negotiated cost saving agreement, RTÉ would no longer be liable for a contractual payment that was due in 2020. This new commercial agreement required that RTÉ guarantee and underwrite the €75K payments.

The commercial partner agreed to this new business relationship with Ryan Tubridy, but they required the change to be cost neutral, as they were in the final year of a three-year sponsorship contract and this was done by issuing a credit note for €75k against their airtime.

I did not at any stage act contrary to any advice. Unfortunately, the pandemic restrictions meant that the commitment to the commercial client could not be met in 2020 and 2021 and was only delivered in 2022. The commercial partner informed us that the commercial arrangement was not going to work for them in the long term. At this point, only one €75k payment had been made.

Payment was sought for the 2021 and 2022 contractual commitments that now fell to RTÉ under the guarantee even though RTÉ had never expected to become liable for them and had not budgeted for them. Because of the commercial nature of the arrangement, it was decided to pay the invoices from the commercial barter account which was in credit. We were motivated purely by the need to find a solution to honour the contractual obligation.

At all times, I and the representatives of RTÉ acted in good faith. I fully accept and acknowledge responsibility for my part in these events as Director General.

This statement is directed to the events of 2020-2022. I understand from media reports and RTÉ's statement that the Board has raised questions concerning payments to Ryan Tubridy between 2017-2019. I have no knowledge of those payments and the Board has not raised those questions with me.

Finally, I want to reiterate that I have engaged fully with the Board during this process. However, the Board has not treated me with anything approaching the levels of fairness, equity and respect that anyone should expect as an employee, a colleague or a person. All of this has had a very serious and ongoing impact on my health and wellbeing.

I am deeply sorry for what has happened and my part in this episode and for that I apologise unreservedly to everyone.

I care very deeply about RTÉ, the people who work for it, the public it serves, its mission, values, its unique position as a public service broadcaster and its reputation. I will continue to do so as RTÉ moves forward under the new Director General.

Oliver Callan is standing in for Ryan Tubridy this morning and there will have been a lot of attention paid to his monologue. He handled it with delicacy. Here is what he said.

“It is Monday morning ... and we’re using the hashtag ‘don’t mention the thing’. Yes many many of the front pages of the newspapers this morning as we do our newspaper review are still mentioning the thing ... I hope you don’t expect me to harp on about it all morning ... In many ways we’re like the typical Irish family now, there’s the unpleasantness that’s dripping away in the basement which we’re thinking of but we’ve kind of run out of things to say out loud about.

There’s a whole week of Oireachtas committees and angry politicians venting ... to come ... so you won’t miss a minute of it if you’re tuned to the news and current affairs programs on this channel.

There you go, there’s a little bit of paranoia I think around the place that you know that we’re sort of afraid to be seen to be shirking coverage of the scandal.. So in lieu of that we’re kind of really going at it. I was listening to Brendan O’Connor yesterday nearly apologising to the listeners for moving on to other stories that weren’t about RTÉ and the other story being the possible collapse of Russia after the mutiny of the mercenaries at the weekend ... So we leave it there, the news and current affairs begins again in less than an hour.

RTÉ director general Dee Forbes has resigned “with immediate effect” following controversy surrounding a payments scandal that has engulfed the broadcaster since last week.

In a statement on Monday morning, Ms Forbes said: “I regret very much the upset and adverse publicity suffered by RTÉ, its staff and the unease created among the public in recent days. As director general, I am the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation and I take that responsibility seriously. I am tendering my resignation to RTÉ with immediate effect.”

She traced the controversy back to cost savings that were delivered for RTÉ in 2020 which followed “detailed discussions including numerous internal communications over many months with RTÉ colleagues, including finance and legal colleagues”.

She added “I did not at any stage act contrary to any advice”, and criticised the board’s approach to her since the controversy erupted.

Full story is here.

Cabinet to discuss Tubridy earnings discrepancy, says Richmond

Minister of State Neale Richmond has said that the Cabinet will discuss on Tuesday the controversy over the discrepancy between what Ryan Tubridy reportedly earned and what he actually did earn.

Public confidence in RTÉ needed to be restored, there needed to be full transparency, he told RTÉ radio’s Morning Ireland.

The statement of resignation by Dee Forbes on Monday raised more questions rather than providing any answers, he said.

It would be helpful if she were to come before the two Oireachtas committees this week. Senior management at RTÉ also had questions to answer. The priority this week was getting answers, he said. – Vivienne Clarke

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