Yahoo News Former Discovery Executive Dee Forbes Resigns as Director General of Irish Broadcaster RTE Over Talent Payment Scandal
UPDATED: Suspended RTE director general Dee Forbes has resigned.
Forbes said in a statement on Monday: “I regret very much the upset and adverse publicity suffered by RTE, its staff and the unease created among the public in recent days. As director general, I am the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation and I take that responsibility seriously. I am tendering my resignation to RTE with immediate effect.”
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PREVIOUSLY: Irish public service broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann (RTE) has suspended its director general Dee Forbes, a former high-level Discovery executive, over an ongoing scandal around an overpaid TV host.
Presenter Ryan Tubridy was paid a total of €345,000 ($375,860) more than his annual published salary between 2017 and 2022, the RTE board said in a statement on Thursday. The excess amount remained undeclared. Tubridy, who hosted the “Late Late Show” until quitting in March, has continued with his weekday program “The Ryan Tubridy Show,” though he did not present the show on Friday.
The RTE board issued another statement on Friday indicating that director general Forbes was suspended from the broadcaster on June 21. “There are processes ongoing and RTE must be mindful of its legal responsibilities and the rights of individuals. RTE will not be commenting further on this issue at this time.”
Forbes joined RTE as director general in 2016. She was president and managing director of Discovery Networks Northern Europe prior to joining RTE. Forbes was due to step down next month and hand over the position to former senior BBC News editor Kevin Bakhurst, who was appointed to the position in April.
On Friday, Tubridy said in a statement shared with Variety: “RTE’s accounting treatment and publication of payments made to me between 2017 and 2022 contained serious errors. While I have no responsibility for the corporate governance in RTE or how or what they publish in their accounts, when my earnings were published I should have asked questions at the time and sought answers as to the circumstances which resulted in incorrect figures being published. I didn’t, and I bear responsibility for my failure to do so. For this, I apologize unreservedly.
For the avoidance of doubt, all my earnings from RTE have at all times been included in my company’s accounts that were prepared by my accountant and filed with the Companies Registration Office and all my taxes are up to date. My filed accounts with details of these earnings have previously been reported on in the media.
At the centre of all of this is trust. The trust of colleagues in RTE and the trust of a great many people who listen to my show. To them: I wholeheartedly apologize for my error of judgement.
Separately, it has been reported that I did not take a pay cut over the last number of years. This is simply not true. Over the period of my contract with RTE, I have been asked to take several reductions in salary and I did. Indeed, between 2012 and today, my pay from RTE was cut by approximately 40%.
I also wish to respond to suggestions that this issue had some bearing on my decision to step down from hosting the ‘Late Late Show.’ It did not.
Finally, I am disappointed that RTE has decided that for editorial reasons I should not broadcast my radio show next week. I look forward to returning to the radio show, a job I love, as soon as possible and I hope my listeners and my colleagues appreciate my sincerity on this.”
Forbes said in a statement through a spokesperson that she has been “fully engaged” with the RTE board and that “the impact of these issues is a matter of profound regret.”
“I am proud of my contribution to RTE over the past seven years. Throughout my tenure as director general, I have always prioritised what I believe are the best interests of the organization, in order to best serve the public,” Forbes added. “This includes pursuing a difficult cost-cutting agenda as part of implementing a wider strategic agenda, all while navigating the unprecedented challenges of the pandemic. I will be making no further public comment at this time.”
The issue of Tubridy’s overpayment emerged after an audit of RTE’s 2022 accounts. Tubridy was guaranteed €75,000 of additional annual income above his salary by RTE. A commercial partner was to pay the amount in exchange for personal appearances.
“As part of this agreement, RTE in turn issued a credit note to the commercial partner, thereby reducing the cost to it of its overall sponsorship arrangement with the organisation,” RTE said in a statement. “The commercial partner did not renew this agreement for a second year, and since the agreement was guaranteed and underwritten by RTE, the payments were instead made directly by RTE to Mr Tubridy’s agent (on his behalf).”
This resulted in Tubridy being paid above his declared annual salary, which averaged €471,320 annually between 2017 and 2022.
Maya Doherty, former chair of the RTE board, has denied any knowledge of the payment scandal during her tenure, which concluded in November 2022.
In a statement, Doherty bemoaned the “profoundly serious lack of transparency involved,” and said that the “reputation of RTE has sadly been damaged.”
Doherty added that the scandal is “deeply upsetting and unsettling for the many staff, in all aspects of the work of RTE who give their best to the national broadcaster with their talent and their commitment.”
Current chair of the RTE board, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, said: “This is a matter of profound regret for the board of RTE. We are well aware that this is a serious breach of trust with the public. On behalf of the Board, I wish to apologise for what has occurred. It is clear that RTE has fallen short of the high standards that it sets for itself and are expected of it. Once these issues came to light, we acted expeditiously to establish the facts and we are confident that the safeguards we have now put in place will ensure that nothing like this will happen again, and that good corporate governance is adhered to at all times.”
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