The RTÉ payments controversy rumbled on yesterday with a four-hour grilling at the Oireachtas Media Committee.
And more will follow today when the Public Accounts Committee also examines the issue.
So where do matters stand after several more developments yesterday in the ongoing saga?
Siloes
RTÉ maintained its central defence that no current executive had a full picture of what went on.
The Chairperson of the RTÉ Board, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, said it was shocking to her that conversations that she would have assumed had happened did not take place and individuals were "siloed".
She said there had been a complete lapse of governance.
"The more we look at it, the more obvious the shortcomings that the culture had instilled in the organisation," she said.
At times, executives passed the buck to the absent former director general Dee Forbes even though that claim was frequently greeted with scepticism. Ms Forbes has said she did not act alone and did not act contrary to advice.
Head of Commercial Geraldine O'Leary said she was not in the room for negotiations on Ryan Tubridy's contract. However, she said she was asked by Ms Forbes to route payments through the barter account.
RTÉ Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins said the deal was largely done before he joined RTÉ in early 2020.
Ryan Tubridy's future
Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells repeatedly asked about the future of the RTÉ presenter.
Interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch replied: "At the moment, for editorial reasons, it is impossible for Ryan Tubridy to be on air."
He also confirmed that Mr Tubridy is being paid while he is off air.
Outside of the committee room, there has been a reported public dispute between RTÉ and Ryan Tubridy on the current status of his contract.
RTÉ said that his current contract for radio and television services ended when he stepped down from The Late Late Show. For now, Mr Tubridy is being paid the radio element of that contract.
Negotiations on a new radio contract began but those have now been paused along with all new material on-air presenter contracts.
Newspaper reports are citing sources close to Mr Tubridy disputing that his contract has ended. The presenter has been contacted for comment but has not responded.
Presenter fees and agents
The RTÉ Chair indicated that change is coming to the practice of negotiating giant salaries for a small number of presenters.
This was in response to Labour Senator Marie Sherlock who asked whether RTÉ was pursuing the correct model.
Ms Ní Raghallaigh said these have been the subject of conversations between herself and incoming director general Kevin Bakhurst.
"Sometimes RTÉ is bidding against itself because there isn't a market there." She also said they had discussed the issue of "agents".
RTÉ also agreed to reveal details of Patrick Kielty's contract by Friday if he agrees.
The resignation
Committee members repeatedly pressed the chairperson as to why she had accepted Dee Forbes' resignation on Monday when that action would put the former director general out of reach of the committee.
Ms Ní Raghallaigh revealed that the board had asked Ms Forbes for her resignation as far back as 16 June.
A disciplinary process was also in place with an intermediary acting to mediate.
The guarantee
On what went wrong, Mr Lynch repeatedly referred to the decision to underwrite the commercial agreement between Ryan Tubridy and the brand - a decision he said was not made by him.
He said RTÉ should never have done that and that was the crucial part of the controversy.
"RTÉ should have disclosed that at the time - that led to the incorrect figures being published and a breach of corporate governance."
This agreement was made verbally on 7 May 2020.
Loyalty bonus or exit payment
Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins said that Ryan Tubridy was due a loyalty bonus at the end of his contract of €120,000.
"That was never paid," he said. "But for an unexplained reason that €120,000 was credited against his earnings between 2017 and 2019. That's under investigation at the moment."
He said he did not sign off on it but sanction was given by the director general and the previous chief financial officer.
Yesterday, RTÉ said that exit payment was the subject of the other Grant Thornton audit on the unexplained payments from 2017 to 2019.
The Government
Two important points were made by the Taoiseach Leo Varadkar in the Dáil.
Firstly, the assertion that the Government did not find RTÉ’s statement credible and that the former director general could not be the only person who had all the information.
This comes in a sequence of Government actions with the Minister for Media writing to RTÉ this week urging full disclosure.
Essentially, the Government is now publicly telling a semi-state body that it does not believe what it is saying and that is tricky territory.
Secondly, there is the threat of the Government parachuting in an outsider to oversee operations at RTÉ.
Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty asked whether the minister would use her powers under the Broadcasting Act to bring in somebody in the absence of full disclosure.
The Taoiseach confirmed that action is a possibility at the same time as the Government finalises the terms of reference for the external review of governance and culture at RTÉ.
"The minister reserves her position as to whether somebody is appointed to do that or whether she would use her powers under the Act to appoint a relevant person."
Such a move would be a drastic step but it has now been put on the table unless RTÉ gets to grips with the crisis and brings a sense of control to what remains a runaway train.
RTÉ Board Chair questioned about resignation of Dee Forbes
