RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

screamer

The toy man is only playing

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120770999#Comment_120770999

Commercial activities are used to part fund it also.

"The majority of RTÉ’s activities are of a public service nature. The cost of providing these services, however, exceeds the amount of licence fee revenue which RTÉ receives. As a result, RTÉ engages in commercial activities to bridge the funding gap."

_Kaiser_

Meanwhile, while this convenient distraction continues to make headlines :

Prices for the average three-bed home in the capital rose by 0.3pc in the past three months, and are now 14pc more than their Celtic Tiger peak level of €431,000

Price of three-bed semi in Dublin hits €500,000 for first time

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/price-of-three-bed-semi-in-dublin-hits-500000-for-first-time/a1464061244.html

Don't get me wrong, this RTE thing should be fully investigated and any illegality prosecuted - but this is Ireland and we should neither be surprised by this latest headline grabbing scandal, nor expect any real consequences for anyone involved.

Dee Forbes resignation already immediately rules her out of having to appear before the Oireachtas to answer questions according to the same newspaper this morning. Does anyone think she'll be compelled to, or face any other consequences?

We reap what we sow here folks. As long as we keep electing politicians based on party affiliation or who mammy and daddy voted for, and then leave them work away for 5 years with no accountability or interest beyond grumbling like this thread when something else happens, it'll never change.

RTE is known for decades as a job scheme for the luvvies, with massively overpaid "stars", huge amounts of money squandered on shows no one watches, and interviewing each other on talk shows rather than asking politicians and others the tough questions that journalists should be asking. Is ANYONE really surprised that in the same culture of unaccountable lifers, things like this happen??

We have only ourselves to blame here I'm afraid. What we're seeing is the result of our "be grand", "me fein", or apathetic attitudes to this stuff - sure a huge number of people don't even read or watch the news in this country FFS. An even larger number don't bother to turn out for elections.

WE must change before we can expect these State institutions to. It's not going to happen on its own - regardless of what Leo and others will say in the coming days.

Gusser09

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120770384#Comment_120770384

You're talking crap. The overnight allowance is paid regardless of where you stay. Always has been. It's for the inconvenience of being away from home and it's widely done in the private sector too. you can literally sleep in a ditch and you get it. Have a look and try to get a hotel out of the allowance these days. Not easy.

Don't be trying to drag public servants earning 50 and 60k into this mud slinging. It's a reflection on you.

mariaalice

This has turned in to incoherent rambling, there should be a revloutation, an incoherent rant about public servnts, the world is on the blink, NKM is a private PR and managment company it's nothing to do with RTE except contract negotion for any clients it represents.

walshb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771349#Comment_120771349

Come on, some a the expenses and claiming really would make your blood boil.....it's the gimme gimme mentality. Awful greed.

And still, RT had not addressed this or apologized. The real ire I believe is that he claimed this cash when he absolutely did not need to, at quite a cost to RTE/Taxpayer. Whatever about him questioning the reporting of the figures, the blood boiler I believe is his trousering a huge amount of taxpayers money completely unnecessarily (and hiding behind a contract).

Terry Prone I believe is the only one one hammering on this point....she really hit the nail on the head about it.

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120769672#Comment_120769672

Don’t compare bbc to our backwater set up

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120770999#Comment_120770999

Losses over the years in RTÉ. Cutting of public broadcasting commitments over the last 10 years.

Commercial aspects are there to supplement RTÉ's public services broadcast commitments, to help them have better funding.

On top of this O'Callaghan & Byrne and Prime Time would both be consider public service, yet they seem to get the same kind of funding for their programmes, should then not be on 100,000 per annum rather then the high wages, almost all of the top earners are News and Current Affairs, there are maybe three that are "commercial" Tubs, D'Arcy and maybe Duffy.

It also this idea that in some way the commercial moneys of RTÉ is not the publics, it is we own the company and we expect that RTÉ will spend commercial and public service contribution in the same manner, with dual funding comes responsibility towards public service. If you want a clear division you drop all commercial sources of income from RTÉ or you do away with public service broadcasting from RTÉ.

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771449#Comment_120771449

Terry Prone I believe is the only one one hammering on this point....she really hit the nail on the head about it.

She's another one I'd love to see taken off our media. I cant understand why shes wheeled out so often (maybe it's the RTE board connection)

evolvingtipperary101

Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Stuart Masterson said that "behind every big name, earning hundreds of thousands, are ordinary workers, men and women who are not on high wages, doing their very best to deliver public service broadcasting".

He said many of them "have seen their wages frozen for years, which essentially means a pay cut given the rise of inflation over the last number of years. They've seen the resources cut and some live with uncertainty over contracts".

Mr Masterson said there are people in the organisation "that are going from contract to contract, low hours or zero-hour contracts … only to learn at the same time that certain people were doing dubious financial dealings behind closed doors.

"That really is an utter betrayal of the trust" of management with staff, he said.

The late kate show and equivalent to TV and radio shows are nothing more than a venture to line the pockets of sucker fish like NK and his clients and board level execs and heads of departments like Forbes and McBennett. GAAGO is a massive money spinner on the backs of unpaid players and volunteers also. Most expensive country in Europe? Once again, we’re the laughing stock lemmings. Is it the collective trauma of the church and post colonialism? How does this keep happening? What makes the Irish tax payer/citizens so easy to constantly rip off? We just go from scandal to scandal and nothing changes.

Ardent

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120770965#Comment_120770965

I never saw that before. Unbelievable! Got emotional watching it.

Gay Byrne was a class act and a true talent.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771498#Comment_120771498

Also @[Deleted User] Ryan Tuberity was moved to 2FM for 5 years to replace Jerry Ryan, during those 5 years he failed to gain any auidence for the station, RTÉ's failure following Jerry Ryan's death was so bad that from 2011 to now they've had to fund 2FM, if commercial income is for commercial aspect of RTÉ surely Ryan should have seen a massive drop in his wages over that period, and only regained when he returned to Radio 1.

72sheep

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771449#Comment_120771449

Terry Prone is a mouth-for-hire and clearly has been incentivised to make RT the centre of this story for as long as possible. IT's Fintan also very strong today on RT's lack of "moral duty". So strange that these two have nothing to say about the RTE's Board (govmt appointed) publicly stated policy of ignoring these payments. Also nothing to say about the fiscal duty of the RTE Execs.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771449#Comment_120771449

You equated subsistence and overnight allowances paid to public servants and its the way some private sector also pay there staff for a expenses rather than having to pay vouched.

The reason for it is easier for them.than vouched expenses. It allows them to put a limit on the day to day costs rather than trying to limit vouched expenses. It will also encourage flexibility of staff and encourage them to travel

My daughter is doing the leaving cert supervisor. Her day rate is 120/day taxable. She would not supervise the leaving ert for that as it's 60/day after tax. Allow for travel costs to and from work and it's less than 50 euro for a 10+ hour day away from home. Instead she claims a bit of travel allowance and a day subsistence rate. It's no fortune but it just about makes it worth doing.

Overnight allowances are paid where it's more expensive to pay travel, overtime and day time subsistence. If you have to stay in accommodation then most of it is swallowed up. The employer has opted not to pay the other option as it's more expensive. If you choose to travel home it's at your own cost. If you stay with a relative then you cannot go in the door empty handed

Man Vs ManUre

I would like to hear what George Hook has to say about all this. He was great on the radio, forced to retire by the wokies.

BattleCorp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120769003#Comment_120769003

We'll differ on the mileage so. It might seem good to you but when you factor in wear and tear on your car, it's not as bright and shiny as you'd think. I know people will say that if you do high mileage you'll get good expenses. That's true but you'll also have to change your car more often. If I find the formula they used to devise the mileage rate I'll post it. I remember seeing it one time so it's out there somewhere.

Yep, the subsistence overnight is €167 and you normally have to be at least 100km away from your home or base to avail of it. Go get dinner, B&B in a hotel in many large towns/cities in Ireland this week and let me know how much change you have out of €167? Or get your lunch and dinner in somewhere other than a Spar shop and let me know how much change you have out of €39.08? The Dublin rate if it's vouched is €167 + €39.08 = €206.08 so good luck getting a decent hotel with dinner, b&b for this. And if you are claiming this in Dublin, it must be vouched so no sleeping in your relative's house or your car.

And staying away for the night isn't common practice. The vast, vast majority of public service workers never stay away from home to claim the overnight rate. I'm in a Department of over 60 people and most of us travel extensively for work and not one of us has had an overnight trip in the last two years.

I'm sure a few people get to benefit from it occasionally but it's not the widespread cash cow you think it is.

amlinopta

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120769499#Comment_120769499

Questions to be asked about the role of RTE's internal audit function:

Internal Audit is an independent and objective assurance and consulting function. (Definition per the Institute of Internal Auditors, International Professional Practices Framework) It is charged with bringing a systematic and disciplined approach to evaluating and improving the effectiveness of risk management, control and governance processes within RTÉ, as a service to the Board of RTÉ and all levels of management.

The objective of Internal Audit is to provide reasonable assurance to both the Board of RTÉ and to management that the organisation’s significant risks are being appropriately managed. This is achieved by appraising the organisation’s risk identification and risk management processes and by recommending improvements, where appropriate.

The Head of Internal Audit has responsibility for ensuring that audit work takes due account of the possibility of the occurrence of fraud and for investigating actual or suspected fraud incidents.

BattleCorp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120769527#Comment_120769527

Serious question. How do you work out how much someone should be paid?

Heskey1971

Its a wonder " man of the people " Ray D'Arcy isn't as open about his big salary at RTE as he was at tryng to shame Marian Finucane about her RTE salary in 2011 ................

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8L794MmkDyo&ab_channel=RTEareSOMEshower

thomas 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771639#Comment_120771639

Keep dropping it until you have no more people applying for the job or the quality of candidate drastically reduces - literally like in any business anywhere across the entire planet.

BattleCorp

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771705#Comment_120771705

And you think that drastically reducing the quality of the candidate is a good thing?

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771687#Comment_120771687

As loathe as I am to defend a crap presenter such as D'Arcy, he has come out and confirmed 250k.

Still waiting for the prick to leave the country after Enda Kenny got re-elected!

Seth Brundle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771639#Comment_120771639

I'd first not work off the presumption that a half rate presenter with crap interviewing skills cannot be replaced if they were to threaten to leave for a competitor or another country.

ButtersSuki

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771499#Comment_120771499

To be fair to her - and I’ve been hugely critical of her and her reLationship with RTÉ over the years on boards - she’s not been found wanting on this one.

walshb

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771734#Comment_120771734

Yes, she is spot on as regards what the real issue is...

I wonder will RT wake up and smell what is is that is really galling for people....

Karppi

Isn't all this chat about subsistence rates for civil servants/teachers all a bit "off topic" and a bit tangential (at best) or irrelevant when compared to the completely unprincipled carry on of all involved in these under the counter payments that were made to an already expensive broadcaster?

Anyway, as far as I see it, everyone who was involved in this arrangement knew exactly what was going on, and that it was a complete financial sleight of hand manoeuvre. To top it off, there's the arrogance of the players in thinking (maybe also hoping plus a bit of prayer were involved and, just to be on the safe side - "be sure not to mention any names, lads" etc) they could get away with it.

I'd have thought that when the Minister received word that there was "a bit of an issue in RTE", her klaxons would have sounded and she'd have demanded a bit more information PDQ. Well, maybe three months is quick - it always depends on your perspective, I guess. Talk about chickens coming home to roost!

thomas 123

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771715#Comment_120771715

That’s your measure you set your standards - something RTE does not do.

They just give nobodys maky uppy salaries and contracts for some unknown reason. *in most cases.

The elevation of these people is done all by RTE nobody comes into RTE with a reputation *in most cases again.

Cluedo Monopoly

O'Toole made a good point. RT being a top earner in RTE was a newspaper headline every year I imagine. And I know his salary probably shocked most people. So he knew that his salary was in the public realm fairly regularly and yet he never once looked to correct the record. It's very poor optics.

Bass Reeves

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771733#Comment_120771733

The thing to look at is how many big presenters have been turned over and moved ship since Pat Kenny. One of them you should be seeing 10% moving every contract round minimum

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120771542#Comment_120771542

We get this

https://youtu.be/SoIjQTkmRhE