No member of the RTÉ Executive Board other than then director general Dee Forbes could have known figures published for Ryan Tubridy's pay were wrong, according to a statement from Interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch.
However, the statement also details the involvement of other senior executives.
Last week the board said that between 2017 and 2022, the presenter received a series of payments totalling €345,000 above his annual published salary.
Mr Lynch outlined the situation related to pay from 2020 to 2022 in a detailed nine-page statement based on a review completed by Grant Thornton that comes six days into the payments controversy.
In the statement, he said that "No member of the RTÉ executive board, other than the director general [Dee Forbes], had all the necessary information in order to understand that the publicly declared figures for Ryan Tubridy could have been wrong."
The statement also said that Ms Forbes, who resigned from her role yesteday, "has not had the opportunity to respond to the details set out below and may therefore challenge or disagree with our understanding and position."
The statement added that "no former employees were asked to or contributed to this statement".
Mr Lynch also said there there was "no illegality" and payments were made to Mr Tubridy "pursuant to an agreed contract."
RTÉ's Commercial Director Geraldine O'Leary said that "her knowledge" of the presenter's payments agreement was "limited to the instructions received by her" from Ms Forbes, according to the statement.
It said that "other than the Director General and the Commercial Director, no member of the Executive Board had knowledge" of two invoices to the barter account, "or any of the circumstances surrounding those invoices".
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Ms O'Leary said "her knowledge of those matters was limited to the instructions received by her from the Director General in connection with the payments in question".
"Those instructions were received at a point in time when the arrangements on foot of which the 9th May 2022 and 6th July 2022 invoices ultimately came to be raised had already been negotiated and agreed".
Ms O'Leary "was not party" to those negotiations, the statement added.
Read more:
Full statement by Interim Deputy DG Adrian Lynch
Live report: 'No illegality' in Tubridy payments - Interim Deputy DG
RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes resigns amid payments controversy
RTÉ's Director of Content Jim Jennings signed off on the payments deal, but was "not aware" the broadcaster was "underwriting" any payments that are now under scrutiny.
Mr Lynch outlined the situation in the statement, which also sought to distance other senior officials from the exact details of what happened.
It said Mr Jennings was aware of progress over any payment talks and "ultimately signed" the deal.
However, the statement said that while "he was aware of elements of the commercial agreement", he did not know "that RTÉ was underwriting" the payments.
It also said that RTÉ's Director of Legal Paula Mullooly and Director of Human Resources Eimear Cusack "were not involved in the negotiation of any aspects of these arrangements" and were "simply aware that negotiations were taking place".
It said the "Director of Human Resources had no sight of any correspondence relating to the matter".
The Director of Operations and Technology, Richard Waghorn, and Director of Strategy, Rory Coveney had "no awareness of or responsibility for any aspects of these arrangements", the statement added, and that RTÉ's solicitor's office "does not have the authority to set, agree or approve the terms of any contract".
The statement also said that "all these events predate the recent appointment of the current Director of News and Current Affairs".
'No finding of wrongdoing' against Tubridy
The Grant Thornton review into the controversial payments to Mr Tubridy has made "no finding of wrongdoing" against the high-profile presenter or the commercial partner involved in what happened.
The review, published this evening, said Mr Tubridy "was not aware of the credit note provided by RTÉ to the commercial partner" involved in what happened.
It said the broadcaster issued the credit note in July 2020 "which should have been publicly disclosed as part of Ryan Tubridy's earning for that year".
The review said RTÉ "understands" that Mr Tubridy "did not receive this payment from the commercial partner under 2021".
It said the "additional payment" was paid in 2022 "but in line with RTÉ's approach to the publication of the Top 10 earners".
The review also said it "makes no finding of wrongdoing on the part of the commercial partner" involved in what happened.
Earlier, Minister for Media Catherine Martin warned that RTÉ must not squander the opportunity to share all information about the controversial payments to Mr Tubridy.
The minister said that she wrote to the chair of the RTÉ Board this morning to set out the expectation that today's statement will address key questions, including who signed off on the payments and who else was involved or aware about them.
She also said RTÉ must reveal when Grant Thornton will complete its review of payments totalling €120,000 to Mr Tubridy between 2017 and 2020.
Meanwhile, a spokesperson for former RTÉ director general Dee Forbes has confirmed she will not attended the Oireachtas Committee on Media tomorrow nor the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee on Thursday due to ill health.
Ms Martin said she briefed Cabinet colleagues about the review of governance and culture at RTÉ which she has commissioned and she will finalise details of this in the coming days.
The minister said the revelations were "unacceptable and damaging to RTÉ and "public service broadcasting" and trust and confidence had been broken.
Ms Martin said the review would go back to 2008.
She will put in place a procurement process for the review and there will also be an expert governance group in the form of a panel.
The minister said she hoped today's RTÉ statement would also bring clarity to the names of those who provided legal and financial advice to Ms Forbes.
Asked about the future of Mr Tubridy, the minister said it was not her role to comment on that.
She hopes to have terms of reference for the review brought to Government by the end of the week and the National Union of Journalists will be consulted on those.
The review could take six to seven months and she would like to see an interim report.
Around 200 employees at RTÉ took part in a protest organised by the National Union of Journalists to air their frustration following revelations of undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy.
Controversy over payments
The payments to Mr Tubridy were uncovered after the company's auditors alerted the board to some of the transactions.
Ms Forbes was suspended from her employment by the RTÉ Board last Wednesday. She was due to step down from the role in July.
Yesterday, Ms Forbes issued a statement in which she tendered her resignation "with immediate effect".
Sixteen current and former RTÉ executives have been invited to attend this week's meeting of the Public Accounts Committee which is examining the payments controversy at the broadcaster.
The committee is seeking to question Ms Forbes, former director general Noel Curran, Mr Lynch and incoming Director General Kevin Bakhurst.
A spokesperson for Ms Forbes has said she will not be attending due to health reasons.
The current chairperson of the RTÉ Board, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, has been invited, as well as former chairperson Moya Doherty.
Also on the list are Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins and former CFO Breda O'Keeffe.
Director of Commercial Geraldine O'Leary has been invited as well as former commercial officer Fiona O'Shea.
The others are Director of Legal Affairs Paula Mullooly, former director of legal affairs Eamonn Kennedy, Director of Strategy Rory Coveney, Chair of the Risk and Audit Committee Anne O'Leary and board member PJ Matthews.
Two officials from the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media are also requested - Secretary General Katherine Licken and Assistant Secretary General Tríona Quill.
D'arcy says salary figures correct
In a statement this afternoon, broadcaster Ray D'arcy said that he does not have an agency and that all of his salary figures to date have been reported correctly.
"This is a terrible mess. On a human level I feel for the people involved but also share the feelings of anger and disappointment of many people around the country and in RTÉ," Mr D'arcy said.
"When asked, I agreed to take a more than 15% cut in 2019. My current salary is €250,000."
RTÉ presenters Claire Byrne, Miriam O'Callaghan, Joe Duffy, Bryan Dobson, Áine Lawlor, Mary Wilson, George Lee and Brendan O'Connor have all confirmed that their salaries - as reported in the top ten earners list published in February - are correct.
Additional reporting Fergal O'Brien, Micheál Lehane and Sandra Hurley
