DEE ONE & ONLY

'Final okay of fees' done by the chief. Claim DG was 'thrown under the bus'

- SANDRA MALLON

EX-RTE chief Dee Forbes was the only person who could have known that Ryan Tubridy’s salary was wrongly declared over the last five years, a bombshell report by Montrose bosses says. 

The review into the secret payments to the station’s top paid broadcaster also said there was “no illegality” and claimed that the former Late Late host knew nothing of arrangements to use credit notes in relation to €75,000 a year additonal cash agreed to be paid to him via a deal with a commerical partner.

Interim RTE Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch revealed no member of the station’s Executive Board other than Ms Forbes could have known that Tubridy’s figures were wrongly declared to the Dail and the public.

An independent review investigating the secret payments found that the ex Director General was the only person that could have signed off on the presenter’s contracts.

And RTE was last night accused of throwing its former director-general, Dee Forbes, ‘under a bus’ over the Ryan Tubridy payments scandal.

Fine Gael senator John McGahon made the comments after the national broadcaster firmly blamed her for the controversy.

The national broadcaster says she was the only member of its executive board who knew the top presenter’s published salary was wrong.

Also reacting last night, former RTE pundit Eamon Dunphy labelled Forbes “a patsy”. The report was conducted by specialist forensic accountant Paul Jacobs, Partner and Head of the Forensic & Investigation Services unit at Grant Thornton.

It focused on the payment of €150,000 to Mr Tubridy and an additional €80,000 in fees between 2020 and 2022.