Ryan Tubridy would have no major problem dealing at an appropriate time with the issue of €150,000 in controversial payments made to him by RTÉ, a source close to the broadcaster has said.
However, there are unresolved issues between the former Late Late Show host and his former employer, including an outstanding data access request, the source said.
“It would be unreasonable to expect the issue (of the €150,000 payments) to be dealt with until those other matters have been resolved,” they added.
Tubridy, who now works for Virgin Radio UK, and his agent Noel Kelly have made requests to RTÉ to access all data pertaining to them held by the broadcaster from around the time of the payments controversy that led to him leaving the organisation.
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RTÉ is understood to have spent more than €100,000 in legal fees responding to the request, but it is understood there is a dispute between the parties on the extent of the information that should be provided.
The requests were made under data protection law, which entitles people to see what personal information a body holds about them. It is understood the requests were submitted about 18 months ago but have not yet been finalised.
RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst told the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday that Tubridy had not repaid to the national broadcaster the €150,000 he received as part of a controversial payment deal in 2020.
Tubridy was to be paid a total of €225,000 over three years by RTÉ as part of a deal brokered by him, Mr Kelly and the station in 2020. In return, for the payments, which were not disclosed publicly by RTÉ until 2023, he agreed to participate in three corporate events for Late Late Show sponsor Renault.
The payments formed the centre of a controversy that resulted in Tubridy, then RTÉ’s highest-paid presenter, leaving the station that year.
Asked in 2023 if Tubridy should repay the €150,000 received for those events, Bakhurst said it might not be possible, on a legal basis, to recoup the money. But he also said there was a “moral case” for Tubridy to repay the sum.
The payments were nominally made by Renault but RTÉ underwrote all three and effectively paid Tubridy. The sums were not classified in the broadcaster’s annual accounts as salary payments.
At the height of the controversy over the “secret payments” in 2023, Tubridy indicated he would be willing to repay the money should he return to RTÉ.
