Ryan Tubridy will tell the Public Accounts Committee and the Oireachtas Media Committee that there have been “seven untruths” told about the RTÉ payment scandal.
The former Late Late Show host and his agent Noel Kelly will address the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee and the Oireachtas Media Committee about the underdeclaration of Mr Tubridy’s earnings by RTÉ.
The under declarations amounted to €345,000 over a five year period.
READ MORE: Ryan Tubridy Oireachtas LIVE updates as star and agent face marathon grilling over RTE scandal
In a lengthy opening statement, Mr Tubridy will detail “seven untruths” that have been told in recent weeks.
The claim that Tubridy did not take a pay cut from RTÉ in 2020
“This is not true,” Mr Tubridy will say.
He will argue that he took a 20% pay cut from RTÉ in his 2020-2025 contract.
“I took a pay cut from RTÉ of 20% in 2020 for each of the five years of my contract, at a cost of €525,000 to me over the length of that contract,” he will say.
The suggestion that Tubridy’s decision to retire from the Late Late Show was prompted by this whole “debacle”
Mr Tubridy will say he first decided to stand back from the Late Late Show last year.
“There is ZERO connection between my departure and this very raw situation of recent weeks,” he will say.
“I informed management on March 13th of this year. I first became aware of the Grant Thornton review in May – some two months later. Even then, I had no inkling of the bombshell which was to come when RTÉ released their statement on June 22.”
Tubridy was ‘overpaid’ by RTÉ
Mr Tubridy will say that he was not “overpaid by RTÉ at any point”.
“I fully accept I am very well-paid but I was paid fully in accordance with my contract, which my agent negotiated openly, honestly and in good faith. There are no over-payments.
“There are RTÉ’s under-declarations.”
He was aware RTÉ was trying to conceal underpayments
Mr Tubridy says RTÉ itself has acknowledged that there were no findings against him.
There was a secret agreement with Renault that Tubridy tried to conceal
Mr Tubridy will say that this “beggars belief”.
“I had a separate commercial agreement with Renault, the basis of which was that I would make public appearances and perform roadshows for them.
“The work that I have done for Renault is all over social media. The suggestion that this was secret just makes no sense.”
RTÉ’s underwriting of Renault’s payment obligations was a secret
He will state that this was not a secret and RTÉ committed in February 2020 to guarantee this.
“Everyone in RTE who needed to know knew. Far from being secret, it was well known.”
That he did not ask RTÉ about their under-declarations of his earnings when they released the 2017, 2018 and 2019 earnings
Mr Tubridy says that he should have pointed out at the time that his earnings were published incorrectly.
He says he waived his entitlement to a €120,000 loyalty bonus.
“As the evidence provided to you today shows, my agent had already pointed out to RTÉ in 2020 that we thought the manner in which they were planning to account for my earnings in 2017, 2018 and 2019 was incorrect.
“We had understood that they accepted our position, so by the time they released the figures, I assumed that the CFO, the financial professionals in RTÉ and the external auditors who had audited the accounts in 2017, 2018 and 2019 had accountancy reasons for accounting for it the way they did.”
