RTÉ STAFF, MANAGEMENT and ‘top talent’ have been dragged through a financial scandal of epic proportions in recent days and weeks.

The revelations around overpayments of the station’s top star, Ryan Tubridy have rippled through the halls of power and onto the country’s airwaves, causing untold damage to the reputation of the public service broadcaster. 

In March, auditors discovered that RTÉ had understated Tubridy’s earnings by €345,000 between 2017 and this year.

RTÉ management has been hauled over the coals at committee hearings and crucially, staff at the station have expressed their anger and frustration at how this could have happened at a time when they were being told to cut their cloth to measure.

This week on The Explainer, presenter Laura Byrne looks closer at the RTÉ scandal along with Rónán Duffy, Assistant News Editor at The Journal and also Eileen Culloty, assistant professor in the School of Communications at DCU and deputy director of the Institute for Media, Democracy and Society.

What exactly did the payments involve? What are the top executives at RTÉ saying? And what does it mean for the future of the broadcaster?

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This episode was put together by presenter Laura Byrne, senior producer Nicky Ryan and executive producer Sinéad O’Carroll.

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