The early morning statement from Dee Forbes is the first substantial comment the now former Director General has made on the ongoing RTÉ payments crisis.
In it, Ms Forbes said that as Director General, she is the person ultimately accountable for what happens within RTÉ and that she takes that responsibility seriously.
She also says she is deeply sorry for what happened, for her part in the episode and, for that, apologised unreservedly.
However, in laying out her version of events, Ms Forbes also says that discussion about Ryan Tubridy's pay were done in conjunction with other RTÉ senior executives.
She says there were detailed discussions, including numerous internal communications over many months with RTÉ colleagues from areas including finance and legal.
Ms Forbes' statement also breaks down the decisions that led to the €75,000 payments, linked to a commercial partner of RTÉ and a barter account.
She says that the agreement meant that the commercial partner would enter into a separate commercial contract with Ryan Tubridy in exchange for the provision of three events annually.
Ms Forbes says the agreement would deliver cost savings for RTÉ, but also says the commercial partner agreed that this new business relationship would be cost neutral, and that this was done by issuing a credit note against their airtime.
She also says RTÉ guaranteed and underwrote the payments, but never expected to become liable for them and hadn't budgeted for them.
When the commitments could not be fulfilled due to the pandemic, they did however have to pay the money.
The statement, although lengthy, leaves a number of questions unanswered, including why RTÉ underwrote the payments, and who, along with Dee Forbes, was involved in the negotiations.
Ms Forbes says she did not act contrary to any advice.
RTÉ executives have been invited to appear in front of the Public Accounts Committee on Wednesday.
The broadcaster has said that representatives of both the board and the executive will be attending.
However, Dee Forbes has now resigned from the executive and although politicians, including the Taoiseach and the Tánaiste, have said she should still appear, her statement makes no reference to doing so.
Crucially, her statement also makes no reference to why the payment details for Ryan Tubridy, given to the public and the Oireachtas, did not include hundreds of thousands of euro extra paid during the years in question.
