has addressed the admission made by Irish national broadcaster that he was paid hundreds of thousands more euros than previously declared, saying how ‘disappointed’ he is to ‘be at the centre of this story’.
It’s also been confirmed that he won’t present his radio show on Friday morning, with it yet to be determined if he will be back next week.
In a statement released online, RTÉ said that this was ‘a matter of profound regret for the board of RTÉ’, after it emerged that the former host of The Late Late Show , totalling €345,000 (£296,653).
‘On behalf of the board, I wish to apologise for what has occurred. It is clear that RTÉ has fallen short of the high standards that it sets for itself and are expected of it,’ said RTÉ board chairwoman Siun Ni Raghallaigh.
‘Once these issues came to light, we acted expeditiously to establish the facts and we are confident that the safeguards we have now put in place will ensure that nothing like this will happen again, and that good corporate governance is adhered to at all times.’
In his own statement, the 50-year-old TV personality has expressed his astonishment over the sums detailed in RTÉ’s report after a review.
‘Like many people, I’m surprised by the announcements made in RTÉ’s statement today regarding the errors in the reporting of its accounts,’ he said.
‘It is unfortunate that these errors are in relation to how RTÉ have reported payments made to me but I just want to be clear: this is a matter for RTÉ and I have no involvement in RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment or RTÉ’s public declarations in connection with such payments.’
He added: ‘Obviously, I’m disappointed to be at the centre of this story but unfortunately, I can’t shed any light on why RTÉ treated these payments in the way that they did, nor can I answer for their mistakes in this regard.’
Ms Ni Raghallaigh, the chair of RTÉ’s board, appeared on RTÉ Television’s Six One news programme, saying taht she couldn’t speak about anyone involved in the situation when asked who signed off on the undeclared payments to Tubridy.
‘There is a report that has been done by Grant Thornton but we are still in process in relation to other matters around that,’ she said, adding that people will be held accountable, and claiming that no one at board level had been aware of the payments.
The chair also confirmed that Tubridy would be absent from his radio show on Friday, and it’s yet to be confirmed if he will return next week.
NK Management, the management company representing Tubridy, stated that these matters of the overpayments are the ‘sole responsibility’ of RTÉ.
‘We were made aware today of RTÉ’s statement concerning its accounting treatment and public declarations of payments made to Ryan Tubridy,’ the firm said.
‘These are matters for which RTÉ has sole responsibility and accountability. There is no issue whatsoever in relation to the payments being properly and lawfully due and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Ryan Tubridy or NK Management.
‘These issues are solely concerned with RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment and public declarations in respect of such lawful payments.’
Arts Minister Catherine Martin said that she was ‘extremely concerned’ by the news, sharing that she had spoken to the RTÉ chair and requested a meeting next week to discuss the issue.
