RTÉ Investigates has learned that when initially asked about invoices labelled as consultancy fees, the former RTÉ Director-General Dee Forbes said they related to work done for RTÉ by Noel Kelly at a cost of more than €1,200 per hour.
Ms Forbes subsequently revised her explanation and advised the RTÉ Board that the invoices related to the tripartite deal between RTÉ, Renault and Ryan Tubridy.
RTÉ Investigates wrote to Ms Forbes. A spokesperson said she "isn't commenting".
Noel Kelly, Ryan Tubridy’s agent, did not respond to RTÉ’s queries.
This evening a spokesperson for the RTÉ Board also said its members would not be commenting.
At the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, RTÉ’s Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins said RTÉ’s auditors, Deloitte, raised questions with him on March 7 concerning two invoices.
The invoices submitted by CMS Marketing, a UK company owned by Noel Kelly, related to 2021 and 2022 and totalled €150,000.
Mr Collins said he brought the auditors’ queries to the attention of Ms Forbes and then relayed her response to the auditors.
He said the auditors were not happy with the explanation that the payments related to services provided by Noel Kelly and were "to do with how RTÉ would restructure" in the wake of the emergence of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Mr Collins said he advised the auditors to speak directly with Dee Forbes, however the auditors remained unhappy with the explanation provided.
Deloitte then referred the matter to the Audit and Risk Committee (ARC) of the RTÉ Board.
Following that, Ms Forbes revised her explanation and told the ARC the payments related to the agreement between RTÉ, Mr Tubridy and Renault.
Separately, at the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday further details also emerged about payments made through RTÉ’s controversial Barter Account.
Spending through the account was described at various points as 'outrageous' and 'grotesque'.
It included €138,000 on 10-year IRFU tickets, €111,000 for tickets and travel for clients for the Rugby World Cup in Japan in 2019, and a further €26,000 on the Champions League final that year in Madrid.
There was also reference to expenditure in 2019 on tickets and travel to a U2 concert in Croke Park, and an event at The K Club in Kildare.
Details were not provided in relation to spending on those activities.
RTÉ Investigates requested a list of the ten largest transactions put through barter account over the last three years, to ascertain the type of spending that took place.
In a one-line response, RTÉ said details of the barter account will be released to the Public Accounts Committee in due course.
