The board of RTE has been given the second Grant Thornton report, which looked at the understatement of star presenter Ryan Tubridy’s published fees by 120,000 euro from 2017 to 2019.
RTE has been the subject of controversy since announcing that it had underdeclared Tubridy’s earnings by 345,000 euro (£295,000) from the years 2017 to 2022.
Of that amount, 225,000 euro (£193,000) relates to three 75,000 euro (£64,000) annual payments received by Tubridy for proposed public appearances for Renault, as part of a tripartite agreement involving the sponsor, RTE and the presenter.
The most controversial aspect of the deal was RTE’s decision to underwrite the payments, which effectively resulted in the publicly funded broadcaster stumping up to cover the costs.
In year one, this was done by issuing a 75,000 euro credit note to Renault in exchange for the motoring company paying Tubridy and, in years two and three, when Renault were no longer involved, by paying Tubridy from its own funds using a UK-based commercial barter account.
The other 120,000 euro (£102,000) of undeclared payments involved in the controversy relate to Tubridy’s salary across the years 2017-19.
During an extraordinary appearance before a parliamentary committee, Tubridy said that a 120,000 euro payment due at the end of his 2015-2019 contract had been waived by him.
He said that RTE had suggested that it should be accounted for by retrospectively under-reporting his salary across several years, which he said he had objected to.
Auditors from Grant Thornton had examined several issues surrounding the debacle, including the 120,000 euro understatement of Tubridy’s fees.
The RTE board said in a statement to PA: “The second Grant Thornton Report has been furnished and will now be the subject of detailed consideration by both the Audit and Risk Committee of the RTE Board and the broader board itself. This process is ongoing.”