RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst has said he stands by his decision to end negotiations with Ryan Tubridy over his return to his Radio 1 programme.
Mr Tubridy has been off-air since 22 June, when controversy over the under-declaration of his salary by RTÉ was first revealed by the RTÉ Board.
Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Mr Bakhurst described Mr Tubridy as a "hugely talented broadcaster", but said he "knew well from talking to staff in RTÉ that opinions [on his return] were strongly divided".
He said: "There was issue throughout about the need to accept your role in what has been a hugely damaging scandal for everybody involved.
"For RTÉ, who need to take the vast majority of the blame, but there are others, including Ryan and his team, who should take some of the blame and take some responsibility."
"I feel there was an issue throughout about the need to accept your role in what has been a hugely damaging scandal for everybody involved," says RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst | Read more: https://t.co/BdnIYpiCjN pic.twitter.com/H37kOdW0Rv
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) August 18, 2023
He added: "Everyone has got to accept those reports in full and not in part and not try and spin their own narratives and those reports and the board restatement of what Ryan received in pay for those two years in 2020 and 2021.
"We've got to move on from this now, we've got a version that fairly reflects overall why he was paid in lieu of those years and to start to question that is counterproductive and we can't be going around in circles arguing about this. We've got to have integrity to own our mistakes."
Mr Bakhurst said he had spoken to members of the Interim Leadership Team before making the decision, including some members who are currently on annual leave, and said they have been kept up to date over the last couple of weeks.
Politicians, meanwhile, have called on RTÉ to refocus efforts on building back the organisation.
Read more:
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Mr Bakhurst said Mr Tubridy is continuing to be paid as it was RTÉ's decision to take him off air, adding "we need to resolve that now, that's the next step".
In an email to staff yesterday evening, Mr Bakhurst said negotiations with Mr Tubridy were entered into in good faith "in the hopes of reaching an agreement that would see Ryan return to his RTÉ Radio 1 show".
Mr Bakhurst said: "I have decided not to continue with negotiations and, as such, there are no plans for Ryan to return to his presenting role with RTÉ at this time.
"Despite having agreed some of the fundamentals, including fee, duration and hours, regretfully, it is my view that trust between the parties has broken down. Public statements made without consultation appear to question the basis for the necessary restatement of fees paid for services for 2020 and 2021."
Speaking on RTÉ's Nine News last night, Mr Bakhurst said it was "not the right time" for Mr Tubridy to return to the national broadcaster, but added that "the door is not shut forever".
He also said that the decision "doesn't boil down to the statement alone" issued by the presenter on Wednesday.
"RTÉ has taken responsibility, has borne the vast majority of responsibility for what went wrong here," he said.
However, Mr Bakhurst said he "always thought it was important that Ryan himself owned a certain amount of responsibility for this and we had some discussions about that and that was important".
In a further interview on RTÉ's Prime Time, Mr Bakhurst said the plan had been for Mr Tubridy to return to his radio show on 4 September, as well as a podcast. A salary of €170,000 had also been agreed.
Mr Bakhurst confirmed that Mr Tubridy had planned to give back the €150,000 he received as part of the tripartite agreement.
In a statement, the RTÉ Board said that it noted the decision. It added that it supports the ongoing work of the Director General and his interim leadership team.
Minister Martin also said that she noted what was an "operational and editorial decision" by RTÉ.
She reiterated that the organisation must now concentrate on restoring the trust and confidence of the public.
The Grant Thornton report published earlier this week found a plausible explanation for the under-declaration of Mr Tubridy's earnings in 2017, 2018 and 2019 by €120,000 was RTÉ's objective to achieve a position where his earnings for each year were below €500,000.
It also stated that Mr Tubridy had no involvement in the adjustments made by the broadcaster in 2020 to his published earnings totalling €120,000 for the 2017 to 2019 period.
The analysis concluded that the adjustments had the effect of causing his published earnings in each of the years to change to an amount below €500,000 from an amount above that figure and it was these lower amounts that RTÉ published in January 2021.
In his statement following the publication of the Grant Thornton report on Wednesday, Mr Tubridy said: "It is also clear that my actual income from RTÉ in 2020 and 2021 matches what was originally published as my earnings for those years and RTÉ has not yet published its top ten earner details for 2022."
But in reply, RTÉ said: "Regarding Ryan Tubridy's comments in his statement, RTÉ is currently seeking clarification as to their meaning."
The statement went on to say that details of Mr Tubridy's earnings for 2022 were published in the RTÉ Board statement of 22 June.
That board statement showed Mr Tubridy's published earnings for 2020 was €446,250, while his actual earnings amounted to €522,500.
In 2021, his published earnings were €440,000, while he was actually paid €515,000.
Additional reporting Tommy Meskill and PA
