The Irish Government has launched an unprecedented interrogation of governance at RTÉ, as the scandal over Ryan Tubridy’s undisclosed pay yesterday widened to include commercial deals.
An industry whistleblower has claimed that the sponsorship deal that allowed the broadcaster’s biggest star to earn hundreds of thousands of euro in undisclosed income is just the “tip of the iceberg” — in terms of commercial kickbacks and secretive payments at the state broadcaster.
Writing in the Sunday Independent today, the whistleblower said an account used by RTÉ to make undisclosed payments to Tubridy has also channelled secret credit note payments in excess of 50m to media advertising agencies over the past 10 years.
His comments were echoed by Ivan Yates, a former Newstalk broadcaster and Irish government minister, who also said the Tubridy scandal is “the ‘tip of the iceberg’ in terms of what is going on in the organisation and the way it operates.
“The problem is with the governance. This is all systematic of a culture of denial, arrogance and cover up,” he said.
In one of the most damaging days in the broadcaster’s history, Media Minister Catherine Martin announced an external review of governance and culture at RTÉ to ensure it is “fit for purpose”.
Her announcement followed a crisis meeting with RTÉ chairperson, Siún Ní Raghallaigh yesterday.
She told reporters yesterday that trust in RTÉ had been “shattered” and said the situation is “nearly like an existential crisis for RTÉ...
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