Ahead of their appearance before the Oireachtas, Ryan Tubridy and Noe Kelly released statements this morning about the current investigation into RTÉ.
Ryan Tubridy’s statement in full is as follows:
"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."
Kelly released an 8 page Opening Remarks document, addressed to the Public Accounts Committee, ahead of meeting with the Oireachtas.
Kelly begins by stating: “At the outset I want to say that we appreciate the seriousness of these issues. The controversy of the past few weeks has been damaging to RTE. It’s also been hugely
damaging to Ryan Tubridy, to myself, and to my own business.”
The document acts as an introduction to the 39 pages of documents that Kelly and Tubridy submitted to the Oireachtas late last night. In his Opening Remarks, Kelly outlines the content of those documents as the following:
• Relevant excerpts from Ryan’s 2015 and 2020 contracts with RTE
• Extracts from the accounts of Ryan’s company for relevant years
• Various emails which track the back and forth of the negotiations for the 2020 RTE
contract and the Renault contract.
Kelly’s opening remarks can be read in full here.
