Two €75,000 payments made to Ryan Tubridy through a barter company were described on invoices as “Consultancy Fees”, a Grant Thornton report has found.
The detailed analysis also shows RTE had a “contractual obligation” to pay the former Late Late Show presenter the additional fees once a third-party commercial deal underwritten by the broadcaster fell through.
Invoices were raised by Tubridy’s agent to the barter company on May 9, 2022, and July 6, 2022.
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The €75,000 payments, which were valued at a gross figure of €115,380 each, were subsequently paid by the barter company on May 25, 2022, and July 20, 2022.
The Barter Account Statement issued by the Barter Company describes each expenditure as a “Fee agreed by Director General”.
On the invoices, they were listed as consultancy fees but Grant Thornton’s
Paul Jacobs, who carried out the report, concluded that “on the balance of probabilities” that description “did not reflect the substance of the transactions”.
He wrote: “The substance of the transaction was that the invoice was being issued due to the underwriting and guarantee … the Talent Agent did not provide consultancy; and the Talent did not provide consultancy.”
The payments made through the barter company were paid to Tubridy’s agent.
According to the report, when asked why this payment method had been used, former Director General Dee Forbes stated that it was effectively a commercial arrangement that did not work out and it was decided to pay the invoices to the Talent’s Agent from the Barter Account, which was in credit.
According to the report, the initial agreement was that the commercial partner would pay Tubridy through his agent.
The details of the agreement are set out in his contract, which began in July 2020 and will end in March 2025, and is referred to as “The Five Year Contract”.
The report concluded that the agreement to underwrite and guarantee the €75,000 was approved by the Director General and found there was an obligation to pay for every year between the start and the finish dates.
It added: “That an agreement would be entered into between the third party sponsor (being the Commercial Brand) and the Talent directly but in the unlikely event of a change in sponsorship during the term of the contract or a failure to pay by the sponsor RTÉ would pay the Talent.”
In return for the €75,000 payment from the commercial partner, Tubridy was expected to attend a maximum of three events per year which had to be in association with RTE
The personal appearance events identified in the agreement were originally expected to have been in 2020, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic finally occurred in 2022.
The commercial partner only paid €75,000 to Tubridy once in 2020 and RTE paid out for the years 2021 and 2022.
The commercial partner was then issued a credit note for €75,000 for sponsorship so that the arrangement was "cost neutral" for them.
