The former Late Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy has also come out swinging ahead of the Oireachtas hearings.
As the Oireachtas hearings into RTÉ's actions continue in light of the Late Late Show payment scandal, the broadcaster has shared additional documents. Additionally, Ryan Tubridy and his agent, Noel Kelly, have issued a joint statement.
There has been an ongoing dispute that began a few weeks ago when it was revealed that RTÉ had failed to disclose an additional €354,000 in payments made to Tubridy for his position as Late Late Show host. This has resulted in a series of further disclosures, as well as recent resignations due to the mismanagement of the situation. Due to this development, a unique meeting of the Public Accounts Committee has been arranged.
According to newly released documents from RTÉ given to the PAC, it has been revealed that a meeting held in May 2021 had four participants. During this meeting, RTÉ reportedly agreed to support a three-party deal between Renault and Ryan Tubridy.
The PAC was shown a copy of a letter from RTÉ's Solicitors office - dated 19 April 2023 - that references a video meeting (May 7th 2021). The letter states the video meeting was attended by former RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes, Ryan Tubridy's agent Noel Kelly, an unnamed solicitor, and a fourth person. That person's name, though, has been redacted from the file. The letter states:
"It was confirmed at that meeting by Dee Forbes on behalf of RTÉ that in consideration of the new agreement, RTÉ guarantees the payments required to be made by Renault under the tripartite agreement and indemnifies Tuttle Productions Limited [Ryan Tubridy's company] in relation to these payments for the duraiton of the contract [sic]."
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The RTE letter that has been sent to the Public Accounts Committee. (Credit: RTE)[/caption]
Ryan Tubridy comes out swinging
Ahead of that Public Accounts Committee hearing, at which Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly will appear, from 11am this morning, the pair had a statement released on their behalf.
That statement said the PAC is being provided with Tubridy's RTÉ contracts, from 2015 and 2020. Other financial account extracts from Tubridy's company, Tuttle Productions Ltd., and copies of relevant emails are being provided. Tubridy said:
"We will be presenting key documents and new information to the two committees which we believe will bring maximum transparency to the situation and address much of the misinformation which has circulated over the past three weeks.
"This is the first opportunity we have had to set out the full facts of what occurred, and we have spent weeks reviewing all the information about these issues."
In his part of the released statement, Noel Kelly declares the RTÉ decision to underwrite the payment contract with Renault [€75,000 a year over a two-year span, which the broadcaster ended up having to cover that second year] will be 'perhaps the most shocking revelation this morning'.
"Since this controversy began," he said, "RTÉ has tried to distance themselves from this decision. Effectively they have blamed former Director General Dee Forbes for doing a solo run."
This article originally appeared on Joe.ie.
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