'No valid basis' for RTÉ to pay Ryan Tubridy through barter account

There was “no valid basis” for RTÉ to pay former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy €150,000 through the controversial barter account, a new report has found.

A separate report, examining governance at RTÉ, repeatedly stated that former Director General Dee Forbes did not pass relevant information on to RTÉ’s Board or Executive.

It also stated that Ms Forbes, who has repeatedly declined to take part in probes into the national broadcaster due to ill health, “did not comply with RTÉ’s processes” when it came to signing off on RTÉ’s former Chief Financial Officer Breda O’Keeffe’s exit package.

As Media Minister Catherine Martin published three reports examining RTÉ on Tuesday evening, she said legislation to determine the future funding for RTÉ and to bring RTÉ under the control of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) will be passed by the Dáil in the autumn or winter.

However, she accepted that if this Government does not run full term, it will be up to another Government to implement the changes. As she confirmed that €20 million of interim funding will be released to RTÉ, she vowed that a decision on future funding will be made by mid-July.

Media minister Catherine Martin launches two major reports into culture and governance at the Irish national broadcaster RTE at Government Press Centre in Dublin

Some three reports examining RTÉ were published on Tuesday. This included a Mazars report examining the barter account and reports into culture and governance and HR at the national broadcaster. The latter two reports contained 116 recommendations.

The main recommendations include bringing RTÉ within the remit of the C&AG, introducing new salary bands and examining allowances. It also recommended publishing the expenses of RTÉ Executives earning over €200,000.

The Mazars report examining the barter account looked in detail at what was described as a “slush fund” during Oireachtas committee meetings. This included an examination of €150,000 paid to former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy as part of a “tripartite” agreement with RTÉ, Renault and Mr Tubridy that was paid through the barter account.

The review found there was “no valid basis for these transactions to have been paid through the barter account”.

“Based on review of emails and information obtained during interviews, it would appear that the barter account was used to facilitate these payments due to no alternative budget being available,” it added.

The report also stated that four payments totalling €44,000 for Renault events were classified as “audience reach” and this was “not consistent with the basis for these payments”.

Mazars also highlighted several barter account purchase transactions where it concluded there was “no valid basis for these transactions to have been paid through the barter account”.

Ryan Tubridy attends

It also noted there were “several barter purchase transactions where the basis of approval of these purchases was not clear, due to these events being expensive in nature and the commercial benefit to RTÉ not being clear”. This included four payments relating to SOHO House Venue Membership at €5,375, five payments relating to a Japan Rugby World Cup trip costing €93,000 and two payments relating to the Madrid Champions League Final costing €19,000.

The Governance and Culture report, meanwhile, identified several failures as it made several comments about its former RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes. It found that RTÉ’s below-board-level governance failed because senior RTÉ Executives did not provide information to RTÉ’s Board or provide information to each other.

“The former Director General did not bring all information to the former Executive Board,” the report said.

“Executives and staff failed to speak up or were disabled from speaking up. Senior RTÉ Executives did not provide external auditor reports addressed to the RTÉ Board to the Board.”

The report authors said they “saw little evidence in the minutes of the former Director General informing her colleagues of other developments in the organisation as a whole”.

“The six reports, comprising our evidence base, provide several examples of the former Director General not providing RTÉ’s Board and others with information. As a result, RTÉ’s Board was not informed concerning certain RTÉ activities,” it added.

It also said: “The former Director General did not comply with RTÉ’s processes as she did not bring the Former Chief Financial Officer 2012–2020’s Voluntary Exit Programme application to the Executive Board for approval.”

This relates to the €450,000 payment given to Ms O’Keeffe when she left the organisation. The report recommended that RTÉ should “adopt processes” in compliance with the Broadcasting Act that “require the Director General to keep the Board informed”.

RTE former chief financial officer Breda OKeeffe arriving to give evidence to the Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media at Leinster House, Dublin, on the controversy around Ryan Tubridy’s misreported salary payments. Picture date: Wednesday July 5, 2023.

The report also stated that RTÉ’s board-level governance failed because the Board accepted “suboptimal and informal processes which hindered its ability to exercise oversight”.

“For example, the Board accepted verbal rather than written reports from the former Director General,” it said.

The report also argued that RTÉ’s Board “lacked the skills to effectively exercise oversight”. It was recommended that RTÉ should appoint a Chief Risk Officer and a cross-organisation Compliance Office.

Minister Martin said it was “regrettable” that some people did not participate in the matters examining RTÉ. Asked if she meant Ms Forbes, the Minister said that it would have been “much better if the former DG did attend [Oireachtas] committee” meeting.

The report also noted that four senior executives who worked in RTÉ in June and July 2023 have resigned or retired and the financial arrangements for two of these departures have not been disclosed.

“Without knowing the details of any termination payments, we do not know whether there was ‘pay for failure’,” it added.

Ms Martin said: “There was a use of confidential clauses that were not respectful of the Code of Conduct for State bodies. It should have been the exception, instead it became the norm.”

The governance review also found that a “fear of leaks” led to distrust between RTÉ and the Board. It found that while leaks have occurred in the past, it couldn’t confirm that they came from the Board.

This fear of leaks may explain RTÉ executives’ tendency to provide verbal rather than written reports and a more general lack of transparency with the Board, the report stated. The third report, examining HR, recommended introducing pay bands. It did, however, lay out what these should be.

Last year, Director General Kevin Bakhurst stated that no one would earn more than the Director General’s salary, which is currently €250,000.

The report acknowledged the new salary cap but stated that there is a need for “greater consistency and transparency of pay decisions and career progression”. It calls for RTÉ to review its policy on presenter pay as part of this.

“Pay bands should reflect the range of roles and associated competencies, skills, and qualifications, where relevant, each with its own reliable market-informed pay range criteria that clearly distinguish the various bands.”

The report also called for the nurturing of presenter talent and developing “a clear career structure that also gives clarity about the presenter role”.

To date, the reports have cost the Government €574,000. When final invoices are received, it is expected that the cost will be over €1 million. RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst said on Tuesday that he accepts “in principle the recommendations”.

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