Dee Forbes, the director-general of RTE from her position, has announced her resignation.
Her decision to step down from her role as the boss of the Irish national broadcaster comes following a made to outside of his salary.
Ms Forbes said that she was ‘ultimately responsible’ over the controversy.
Last week, she was from her role, having already been due to step down from her position next month.
The news came after it emerged that Mr Tubridy had been paid several hundred thousand euros more than previously declared in addition to his usual salary throughout a period between 2017 and 2022, with the total amount reaching €345,000 (£296,653).
In a statement released on Monday morning, Ms Forbes said she has ‘engaged with and consistently co-operated with the processes directed towards answering questions surrounding payments to Ryan Tubridy’.
‘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 RTE with immediate effect,’ she said.
Ms Forbes said that she is ‘deeply sorry for what has happened and my part in this episode and for that I apologise unreservedly to everyone’.
She stressed that she cares ‘very deeply’ about the Irish national broadcaster, in addition to ‘the people who work for it, the public it serves, its mission, values, its unique position as a public service broadcaster and its reputation’, and will ‘continue to do so’ after a new director general is hired.
Addressing her connection to Mr Tubridy, Ms Forbes outlined that she led the discussions with the TV host’s agent along with with other senior executives at the broadcaster, explanining that they wanted to make a ‘cost saving for RTE in respect of a contractual payment which was due to be paid’.
The firm was also attempting to negotiate a new contract with Mr Tubridy as a ‘valued presenter’, which was ‘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,’ she said.
Following ‘detailed discussions’, an agreement was reached which ‘delivered cost savings for RTE, which 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 agreement, RTE would ‘no longer be liable for a contractual payment that was due in 2020’, explaining that the agreement required the broadcaster to ‘guarantee and underwrite the €75K payments’.
Her statement continued: ‘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.’
Ms Forbes said that the commercial partner informed RTE that the arrangement was ‘not going to work for them in the long term’, at which point onlyone €75,000 payment had been made.
In 2021 and 2022, payment was sought for the contractual commitments ‘that now fell to RTE under the guarantee even though RTE had never expected to become liable for them and had not budgeted for them’, Ms Forbes said.
‘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,’ she stated.
‘At all times, I and the representatives of RTE acted in good faith. I fully accept and acknowledge responsibility for my part in these events as Director General.’
Ms Forbes, whose statement concerned events between the years of 2020 and 2022, said that she had ‘no knowledge’ of other payments made to Mr Tubridy between 2017 and 2019.
