Dee Forbes has announced she is resigning as Director General of RTÉ with immediate effect.
In a statement released on Monday morning, she apologised for her part in the ongoing controversy surrounding the extra payments given to presenter Ryan Tubridy.
Ms Forbes had planned to step down from the role next month, with Kevin Bakhurst due to take over from her.
However, it emerged she had been suspended from her employment last Wednesday, ahead of public revelations about payments to Mr Tubridy.
The previously undeclared payments to Ryan Tubridy's company amounted to €345,000 over six years between 2017 and 2022.
Last week, the Board of RTÉ published the correct earnings of Ryan Tubridy for the period in question:
Dee Forbes' resignation means she is no longer compelled to appear immediately before the Oireachtas Media and Public Accounts Committees this week.
However, Sinn Fein's media spokesperson Imelda Munster, believes Dee Forbes still should still come before the committees.
"What she said was that she cares deeply about RTÉ and the people that work for it, and that she's the person ultimately accountable.
"So on those grounds alone, if you're to take her resignation statement as genuine, you would imagine that she would want to assist in clearing matters up and answer the questions that everybody needs answers to".
Ms Forbes says as Director General of RTÉ she is the person ultimately accountable for what happens within the organisation and is resigning immediately.
She says at all times she represented RTÉ in good faith and didn't act contrary to any advice.
In a statement released this morning, she says she's deeply sorry for what has happened and her part in the episode and she apologises unreservedly to everyone.
Dee Forbes also adds that the RTÉ Board has not treated her with anything approaching the levels of fairness, equity and respect that anyone should expect as an employee, a colleague or a person. She says this has a very serious impact on her health and wellbeing.
In response, the board of RTÉ also released a statement acknowledging correspondence this morning from Dee Forbes confirming her resignation.
It also notes the contents of her accompanying statement and says representatives of the RTÉ Board and Executive will be attending this week's Oireachtas committee hearings.
