RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy has said he "can't shed any light" on why RTÉ treated certain payments to him in the way it did.
In a statement issued this afternoon, the RTÉ board said that between 2017 and 2022, Mr Tubridy received a series of payments totalling €345,000 above his annual published salary.
The payments were uncovered after the company's auditors alerted the board to some of the transactions.
In a statement Mr Tubridy said: "Like many people, I'm surprised by the announcements made in RTÉ’s statement today regarding the errors in the reporting of its accounts.
"It is unfortunate that these errors are in relation to how RTÉ have reported payments made to me but I just want to be clear: this is a matter for RTÉ and I have no involvement in RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment or RTÉ’s public declarations in connection with such payments.
"Obviously, I’m disappointed to be at the centre of this story but unfortunately, I can’t shed any light on why RTÉ treated these payments in the way that they did nor can I answer for their mistakes in this regard."
RTÉ said this evening that Mr Tubridy will not present his radio show tomorrow morning amid the controversy.
Today's statement from RTÉ said that a review found that under a separate agreement Mr Tubridy was guaranteed by RTÉ an additional annual income of €75,000, which was intended to come from a commercial partner.
The payment in 2020 did come from a commercial partner of the station, in exchange for a number of personal appearances a year.
"As part of this agreement, RTÉ in turn issued a credit note to the commercial partner thereby reducing the cost to it of its overall sponsorship arrangement with the organisation," RTÉ said.
"The commercial partner did not renew this agreement for a second year, and since the agreement was guaranteed and underwritten by RTÉ, the payments were instead made directly by RTÉ to Mr Tubridy's agent (on his behalf)."
As a result, Mr Tubridy received two payments of €75,000, totalling €150,000, in 2022 for that year and the previous year. €18,750 of that related to earnings for the first three months of 2023.
The RTÉ statement said that further investigations had revealed that between 2017 and 2019, Mr Tubridy received a total of €120,000 more in payments from the station than had been previously publicly stated.
The reasons for these payments are currently under investigation, it added.
Mr Tubridy's agent, Dublin-based NK Management, said: "We were made aware today of RTÉ’s statement concerning its accounting treatment and public declarations of payments made to Ryan Tubridy.
"These are matters for which RTÉ has sole responsibility and accountability.
"There is no issue whatsoever in relation to the payments being properly and lawfully due and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing on the part of Ryan Tubridy or NK Management.
"These issues are solely concerned with RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment and public declarations in respect of such lawful payments."
