By Jonathan McCambridge and Cillian Sherlock, PA
RTÉ has announced there are no plans for Ryan Tubridy to return to his presenting role at the Irish national broadcaster following a controversy over the under-declaration of his salary.
Director general Kevin Bakhurst said negotiations with Tubridy about returning to his radio show had concluded after stating that trust between the parties had “broken down”.
Tubridy has been off-air since June 22nd, when controversy over the under-declaration of his salary was first revealed by the RTÉ Board.
Mr Bakhurst said: “We went into negotiations with Ryan in good faith and in the hopes of reaching an agreement that would see Ryan return to his RTÉ Radio 1 show.
“I have decided not to continue with negotiations and, as such, there are no plans for Ryan to return to his presenting role with RTÉ at this time.
“Despite having agreed some of the fundamentals, including fee, duration and hours, regretfully, it is my view that trust between the parties has broken down.”
The public service broadcaster has been the subject of controversy since announcing it had understated Tubridy’s earnings by €345,000 from 2017 to 2022.
The crisis at the broadcaster has since widened beyond Tubridy’s pay to RTÉ’s internal financial, accounting and governance practices and its expenditure on corporate hospitality for advertising clients.
A report by Grant Thornton this week said it was “very plausible” that fees paid by RTÉ to its star presenter were under-declared by €120,000 from 2017-2019 to keep the payments under the €500,000 mark.
On Wednesday, following the publication of that report which found Tubridy had no part in decisions by RTÉ to understate his earnings between 2017-2019, the former Late Late Show host said he wanted to re-establish trust with listeners.
Tubridy, who had been the station’s highest-paid employee prior to his decision to leave the flagship Late Late Show earlier this year, said he wished to return to presenting his radio programme but was awaiting a decision from Mr Bakhurst regarding his future.
In that statement, he said: “I am committed to re-establishing the confidence and trust of my colleagues and listeners, and I hope that any fair assessment of the findings of today’s report will help in this regard.”
He added: “I want to acknowledge the huge support that I have received in recent weeks from people across the country; many cards and letters, greetings on the street and words of support from people I bumped into meant an awful lot to me and I appreciate them all very much.”
A spokesman for a media agency representing Tubridy told the PA news agency he was not making any comment on the matter.
