RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Brendan Bendar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121398819#Comment_121398819

the only thing i'd disagree with in that post is the 'Maybe" before the print media.

Rest assured ,they were all at it, like hounds sitting around a table which groaned with rich pickings.

kevthegaff

What tax are the presenters paying? Are the ones on contracts paying corporate rates?

AndyBoBandy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399169#Comment_121399169

The way I understand it is that the ones that are contractors are set up as a limited company, so the company receives the fee from RTE, pays corporate tax on it? (15%?) and then the actual presenter is just an employee of their own company and probably pulling a very modest salary in order to pay as little tax as possible…. So I wouldn’t be surprised that the likes of Tubridy & Duffy are/were only earning about €50-€60k a year according to revenue… with the rest of the money going into the company accounts…

They can probably write off a lot of their expenses then as business costs and further reduce tax liabilities...

But I could be completely wrong on that...

Brendan Bendar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399211#Comment_121399211

I'd suggest you are not too far off the mark.

Strange that Revenue haven't had a closer look at that procedure.

Now maybe they have but it seems a little odd ?

AndyBoBandy

Slightly OT but it would be interesting to know how Tubridy's contract with Virgin is structured?

Are they simply paying for a service from Ryan Tubridy limited? And he gets to keep most of the money again, or is he gonna be an actual employee of Virgin? And as they have Irish subsidiaries (and his show will be broadcast in Ireland) is he being contracted through an Irish entity to avoid HMRC? or is he a fully fledged PAYE employee working in The U.K.?

I'm sure Noel 'The Chocolate Man' Kelly will have wangled some sort of deal to ensure his man gets to keep most of the money....

If he is employed in Ireland but doesn't do any actual work while in Ireland, and stays outside the country for more than half of the year, he can avoid paying tax altogether...

KevRossi

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121398797#Comment_121398797

I always wondered how Tubridy has a mortgage after earning the best part of €10,000,000 over the years. he doesn't have Ferrari's or yachts. he doesn't live in a €5m bolt hole in Dalkey, so he must be a crap manager of money.

I get that he has 'extra curricular'* expenses, so do did his predecessor Gerry Ryan, but I'm still surprised at his status.

I got the impression he was desperate for money the past few months and that he took the Virgin job at any wage in the hope of getting a better position elsewhere.

*All the books he reads don't come cheap. ;-)

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399317#Comment_121399317

Tubs will have to provide a return to revenue which will be public available. AFAIK many of these companies have 2 directors usually a spouce who also gets paid, they might even employ a PA.

The most recent accounts show that the company made a modest profit of €13,629 in 2021 and this followed a loss of €66,736 in 2020.

The last time Mr Tubridy disclosed directors’ pay for Tuttle Productions was in 2017 for the 16 months for the end of December 2016 which was €473,138.

A number of other high-profile presenters also don’t reveal directors’ pay in their own company accounts.

At the end of December 2021, Tuttle Productions had net assets of €24,117. The company’s current assets, made up of cash and money owed by debtors, was €75,882 and this was offset by €69,532 owed to creditors.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/ryan-tubridy-delays-filing-his-company-accounts-until-later-this-year/a1226258100.html

I see RTÉ are looking for a still photographer, 12 stills across 2 shows, contracted for just one year at 50k or less.

In effect this will just be given to the current long term photographer.

RTÉ need to release the meetings emails that lead to this U turn.

AndyBoBandy

Tubbers will not be made fun of today, and he will not be available for any comments as he'll be spending today, the 60th anniversary of the assassination of his beloved JFK in solitude and in reflection..

He might gift us a selfie of himself on Dun Laoghaire pier later if we are lucky...

He will however be available to sign copies of his JFK book in person for €275 a go... please contact NKM for further info.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121398819#Comment_121398819

It really pi$ses me now to have accepted the list of the highest paid 'stars' of rte published each year and never knowingly went 'what the fup are they paid that much for'!

There was usually a bit of public reaction to the ridiculous salaries but it was always shouted down with phrases like 'sponsorship' (haha) and ad revenue, being thrown around.

Plus of course the non existent - oops, I mean - ever present threat 🥴 that these talented individuals would walk out.

As if that was ever likely to happen in the case of talent-free people such as Tubridy, Duffy, Darcy and the rest.

Sunny Disposition

The high salary of Ryan has been justified now, he has gone into another high paying broadcaster. He doesn’t need RTE now.

in his ST interview he said he’ll probably get into TV work too. He’ll make a lot of money at that too.

I can understand people not liking Ryan, but it has now been proven there is a market for top Irish talent. Ryan, and Pat Kenny before him, have proven RTE needs to compete.

HildaOgdenx

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399332#Comment_121399332

We don't know though whether he has a mortgage or not. It seems quite unlikely, imo.

I don't understand why Bakhurst said that. It was hardly likely to elicit sympathy for someone who was on the pigs back for years and was then further revealed to have been less than honest about his income.

Agent Coulson

You can have ten million in the bank and still get a mortgage

Why dig into your lump sum savings when a bank will give you a mortgage which can well afford to pay off and you can then get tax relief on your mortgage repayments.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399472#Comment_121399472

Ah Sunny Sunny Sunny, I know we won't win you over to the Hate and honestly personally I really have no issue with Tubs or anyone doing well... however ... RTÉ were never in a position for these wages and RTÉ should never have considered keeping such a wonderful bigger hitter as Ryan Tubrity if these were his costs, rather they should have developed others, who might move on to great things either across the water over there or beyond in A-MERI-KAY.

The market was never here for them. We are, as RTÉ themselves suggest, too small a market, thus you develop people. When those people start asking for money beyond the market you let them know now is the time for them to spread their wings, and those others that you have developed takeover and move up in this market. If they don't want to spread their wings then they stay on Irish Market rates. RTÉ is not in a position to compete with the likes of the BBC (and they have said this on serval occasions).

But then there is this proof, for Pat and Ryan, that you seem to seek... that these wages were required to maintain them in their roles !

Where is this proof?

Pat Kenny TV career never really took of after TLLS, the frontline wasn't a success. Prime Time wasn't enough for his intellect. In the Round didn't even get 100,000 viewers on a Monday night for UTV Ireland (the figure that Doc Martin repeats were getting), his TV3/Virgin Media TV programmes well they couldn't compete and fell out of the radar, Pat's not been on TV since. And all of his replacements on "Today with..." on Radio 1 have maintained his audience.

Pat's success is in increasing the audience for Newstalk across the schedule, but this success has largely come to an end as Newstalk is now maintaining an audience (I'd argue that's due to them not reinvesting in the Lunchtime and afternoon spots), but look at Ivan Yeats old show the Hard Shoulder, kieran cuddihy is an non-entity in the extreme and he's retained Yeat's audience so far, I'd not be happy if I were Pat).

Where is Ryan's TV career going to take him, in Ireland RTÉ is the only Irish broadcaster that might take him via an Independent producer, and what type of programme, and why not give that programme to a new up and coming presenter.

I think we all need to turn around a wait to see how successful Tubs is before really making any comment on his future.

tom23

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399472#Comment_121399472

Would you ever get up out of that ya complete and utter spoofer.

podgeandrodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399355#Comment_121399355

So the original photography tender was €240k over 4 years for 16 photos a week? Another article said over 3 years so not sure.

Where are the details of the new tender, is it public yet?

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121400058#Comment_121400058

https://www.etenders.gov.ie/epps/cft/prepareViewCfTWS.do?resourceId=2709303

DESCRIPTION: RTÉ invites submissions, from suitably qualified Tenderers to supply a minimum of 12 approved photograph stills in both High- and Low-Resolution Images each week for various RTÉ Productions.

CONTRACT DURATION IN MONTHS OR YEARS, EXCLUDING EXTENSIONS:12 months

ESTIMATED VALUE (EUR):50,000

ABOVE OR BELOW THRESHOLD:Below

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399507#Comment_121399507

Your general point is correct, but the specifics need to be corrected to understand why a high net worth individual would get a mortgage.

No-one would have 10 million in the bank - it would lose you money hand over fist, and be a colossal financial risk.

Anyone with that kind of wealth would be investing it. Even a fairly safe spread across the stock exchange would get you a return of about 10% a year. And remember, that 10% keeps going - at that rate, your investment would double in just over 7 years.

A mortgage would cost you 3.5% to 4% at the moment.

So even leaving tax relief aside, it makes absolute financial sense not to use your capital to finance a house if you can afford the repayments from your wages, when it can make more money for you than you'll pay on mortgage interest. All while the house itself is an asset that is increasing in value too.

Far from being a "crap manager of money" as the other poster claimed, it would be a sign of a financially astute individual.

techman1

The most recent accounts show that the company made a modest profit of €13,629 in 2021 and this followed a loss of €66,736 in 2020.

The last time Mr Tubridy disclosed directors’ pay for Tuttle Productions was in 2017 for the 16 months for the end of December 2016 which was €473,138.

A number of other high-profile presenters also don’t reveal directors’ pay in their own company accounts.

At the end of December 2021, Tuttle Productions had net assets of €24,117. The company’s current assets, made up of cash and money owed by debtors, was €75,882 and this was offset by €69,532 owed to creditors.

So that means the company doesn't have much money at all and he has been drawing down all the money as a salary or director's pay but we don't really know ? So he must have an expensive lifestyle or he has taken it out and invested elsewhere?

Hyperbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121390178#Comment_121390178

Tubridy only ever intended to repay the 150k if it was part of a contract renewal with RTE. This would have served two purposes. Getting him back on Radio1 in a yet another cushy, overpaid number AND allowing him to rehab his reputation by making a big song and dance about "doing the honourable thing"

Now that his own idiocy has cost him a return to the handiest job he will ever have, that money will never be seen again. If Tubridy had an ounce of decency, he would have written a large cheque to a charity of his choice AFTER his association with RTE ended. It's a significant wedge but to a man who has earned millions over the last decade, it would have been a shrewd and effective way of garnering a lot of public approval, further laying the blame at RTE's door and allowing him to come across as magnanimous.

There was never any doubt in my mind that that wouldn't happen. He is a greedy, small, entitled and petty individual. As his recent pronouncements about his previous employer have demonstrated. The employer that gave him a salary and a position in Irish society that he had absolutely no meritocratic right to have.

As another poster said, he is now finally doing what he should have been doing for the last 20 years. Working at a minor radio station, with a small market share, spinning disks and waffling shíte for 100k pa and glad to get it. Pity successive RTE DG's couldn't have had the gonads to put him where he belonged decades ago.

Hyperbollix

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121395010#Comment_121395010

Evans and Morgan are hype merchants. They'll do and say anything to sell whatever their employers needs to sell. It's that simple. They aren't idiots either. If either of them have been interviewed by Tub's they'll know what a lightweight he is. But in the case of Evans, what else is he going to do with the guy who is going to be taking over the slot after his own on Breakfast radio. Hype him to the moon. Lipstick and pigs come to mind.

odyssey06

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121400242#Comment_121400242

If he'd repaid the money to charity during the PAC hearings it would have gotten public goodwill back on his side to a large extent.

Would have made it harder for Bakhurst to not bring him back.

Or if he had kept schtum during the contract negotiations.

He'd be still on the cosy cushy number in RTE, on bigger bucks \ less hours \ travel than his new gig.

Cluedo Monopoly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121398447#Comment_121398447

A cruel diagnosis.

Do you find yourself pointing at random things a lot including yourself?

Do you lie a lot?

Doc07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399472#Comment_121399472

0.5/10 I don’t think you are even trying anymore really

podgeandrodge

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121400079#Comment_121400079

So..WAS €60k per year for 16 photos a week.

NOW €50k for 12 photos.

My maths ain't great but is that not an increase in the pay per photo!!

Agent Coulson

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121400339#Comment_121400339

That works out at about €80 per photo.

The previous was about €72 per photo.

RoTelly

The likelihood of Ryan continuing to have a Mortgage is quite low. Unless he invested in property during the boom.

However I would suggest its is not RTÉ position to dig their presenters out of financial holes that they find themselves in.

I mean lets face it Pat Kenny built his house back in 1988... and was very concerned about the badgers !

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399211#Comment_121399211

Yea, you're not quite right.

In Ireland (unlike the UK) there are no real tricks available to contract staff to avoid tax versus being a PAYE employee, certainly not in any meaningful way.

Doing what you are suggesting, i.e. leaving the income in the company accounts rather than taking it as salary to avoid income tax wouldn't work. Revenue are wise to this tactic, Close companies are taxed 20% (rather than 12.5%) on any income left in their company accounts at year end. It makes little sense to keep money in the company account, since you can easily end up being double taxed on it (if you have to pay the 20% surcharge, and then subsequently take it as earnings you'll pay income tax too).

Revenue are strict on what you can and cannot expense. You can have your company organise things like health insurance etc etc, but just like PAYE employees you'll have to pay BIK on this.

The benefit of contracting is higher income, offset by lower job security. There's no real benefit in terms of tax.

awec

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121400339#Comment_121400339

The 12 photos thing is fairly irrelevant. They aren't paying per-photo.

The photographer works about 30 hours a week for RTE. Even at 60k, this worked out at about 40euro an hour which is significantly below the market rate for photographers. Of course, it's offset by the guarantee of work.

This is one of those things people get hysterical about without the detail.

RoTelly

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121400556#Comment_121400556

RTÉ also dropped their still department, they would have some savings by employing stills photographers rather than indirectly when required. (as we see with this tender, which will most likely be picked up by the previous holder).

Is there a need for a stills photography or a stills department? This is really the question people are asking.

Theboinkmaster

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121399472#Comment_121399472

What?!

He's gone from a €300k radio contract for 1 hour per day monday - friday to a £85k contract for 3 hours per day and a weekend show...

That's called a massive pay cut my friend.