"RTÉ Can No Longer Be Taken At Face Value" - Catherine Murphy

Friday, 23 June 2023 10:43

By Caoimhe Harney

The Deputy Chair of the PAC says she particularly wants to speak to Dee Forbes

Deputy Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Catherine Murphy has said that RTÉ can no longer be taken at face value.

It follows revelations that RTÉ made series of payments totalling €345,000 to Ryan Tubridy, in addition to his annual published salary between 2017 and 2022

Speaking on Kildare Today on Friday, the Social Democrats TD said if Ryan Tubridy "didn't notice the extra money, then it speaks volumes about the extent of the payment."

"This is really a bombshell revelation on how this money was accounted for.

"I wrote to the PAC yesterday, to have RTÉ in front of us as quick as possible to deal with this issue.

"I don't think we can postpone this for any length of time," she told Kfm.

Deputy Murphy said it "has to happen" and added, "I particularly want to here from Dee Forbes."

Members of the National Union of Journalists working at RTÉ will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss revelations that the station paid Ryan Tubridy hundreds of thousands of euro more over a period of several years than it declared to the public and the Oireachtas.

Unions at RTÉ said revelations of the additional payments had left staff shocked and dismayed, pointing out that it happened when workers were engaged in cost-cutting negotiations with management.

Fine Gael TD Bernard Durkan "A number of people has to have known what was happening in RTÉ.

" It's a blot on the horizon for them[RTÉ] that this kind of thing has emerged in the way it has.

"While at the same time the station was looking for extra funding from the taxpayer," he said.

Kildare North TD Catherine Murphy joined Eoin Beatty on Friday's Kildare Today: