TELL US WHO SIGNED OFF ON GRUBBY DEAL ...OR RESIGN

Dunphy accuses RTE of Tubridy pay 'cover-up', He says minister must get facts or stand down

- KEITH FALKINER and SANDRA LLON

EAMON Dunphy accused RTE of a cover-up over the secret cash to Ryan Tubridy and insisted Media Minister Catherine Martin must resign if she can’t get to the bottom of it. 

The former soccer analyst said the public needs to know who signed off on the €345,000 payments to the former Late Late Show host.

Dunphy added: “Minister Martin should be able to get the answer to this by tomorrow.

“If she can’t then she should resign as she is not properly serving the public or the Government.

“As recently as Saturday, she said she still didn’t know who signed off on this grubby deal, despite first becoming aware of RTE irregularities back in March.

“So there are still a lot of questions that remain, which is unsatisfactory. RTE executives have been involved in omissions of the truth and essentially a cover-up.”

Dunphy has now questioned if Tubridy’s decision to leave the Late Late Show last month is linked to the scandal.

He added he now feels foolish after paying a warm tribute to him when he announced he was quitting.

But Dunphy said he was unsure if the storm would finish Tubridy’s career with RTE.

He added: “We won’t know that until we get all the full facts.”

RTE has been thrown into chaos after it was discovered its highest-paid presenter earned €345,000 more than was publicly declared through sponsorship deals from 2017 to 2022.

It has since been discovered a “barter company” secured €80,760 of this in fees. That third party is understood to be London-based media trading c ompany Astus.