Members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) working at RTÉ will hold an emergency meeting today to discuss revelations the station paid Ryan Tubridy hundreds of thousands of euro more than it declared to the public and the Oireachtas.
Yesterday RTÉ revealed that between 2017 and 2022, Mr Tubridy received a series of payments totalling €345,000 above his annual published salary.
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.
Sinn Fein TD and Chair of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee Brian Stanley said he was demanding immediate explanations and accountability from RTÉ.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said he is personally very disappointed as senior people from RTÉ, including Director General Dee Forbes, have been before the committee a number of times over the past few years and gave firm commitments that pay across the top ten presenters was being reduced.
“Not alone did that not happen in this case, in actual fact there were €75,000s being added on, there were €50,000s being added on … This is at a time when RTÉ was coming into us, RTÉ senior management pleading that the finances of the organisation were in such bad shape. And that is the context here,” he said.
Minister for Media Catherine Martin described the revelations as unacceptable and said that she will be meeting the chair of the RTÉ board on Monday.
RTÉ has apologised for what it described as a breach of trust.
Mr Tubridy said he was surprised by the revelations and could not shed any light on why RTÉ had treated payments in the way it did.
Read the full report on www.rte.ie
