Latest news with #RyanTubridy
BreakingNews.ie
29-05-2025
- Entertainment
- BreakingNews.ie
Taoiseach told poking fun at himself in interview with Ryan Tubridy might go down well
Taoiseach Micheál Martin was told he should only talk about things he was 'comfortable with' but that poking fun at himself might go down well ahead of an interview with Ryan Tubridy. Mr Martin was sent a two-page document on what to expect when he appeared on the Bookshelf podcast, where the Fianna Fáil leader talked about his love of the Biggles adventure books, author Colum McCann, and a history book on aviator Charles Lindbergh. Advertisement In preparation for the interview, the Taoiseach was told the final question would be 'the name of the autobiography' he was yet to write. A briefing document said: 'If you have never written an autobiography, you can talk about that at face value. [Or] you can go down a completely different road of the autobiography you would love to write but would get into too much trouble if you did. '[Or] a light-hearted observation on your life that would be [a] little tongue-in-cheek, poking fun at yourself. It's completely open to what you're comfortable with.' Mr Tubridy's team said they were looking for the Taoiseach to bring actual copies of the books he wanted to speak about but that copies of them could be sourced if needed. Advertisement They planned to start with books Mr Martin read as a child, which Tubridy said would lead into a conversation on 'childhood in general.' The former RTÉ star said he would ask about the book that 'brought you joy or made you laugh.' The briefing document said: 'This creates a space for happy stories to be shared. We are offering scope for two trains of thought here.' The document said it could lead into a discussion on either 'joy' or 'laughter'. It said: 'What was it about this book that made you laugh? What type of humour resonates with you?' The podcast would then move on to the book that changed the Taoiseach's life. Mr Tubridy's briefing document said: 'Again, this one can go absolutely ANYWHERE! 'Previous guests that are authors have gone with their own book as a career turning point and talked about that. 'Other guests have leaned towards spiritual and self help or healing books that had huge impact. We have also delved into books that sparked a passion or an idea in them.'
Irish Times
29-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Ryan Tubridy willing to address repayment of €150,000 to RTÉ at ‘appropriate time'
Ryan Tubridy would have no major problem dealing at an appropriate time with the issue of €150,000 in controversial payments made to him by RTÉ , a source close to the broadcaster has said. However, there are unresolved issues between the former Late Late Show host and his former employer, including an outstanding data access request, the source said. 'It would be unreasonable to expect the issue (of the €150,000 payments) to be dealt with until those other matters have been resolved,' they added. Tubridy, who now works for Virgin Radio UK, and his agent Noel Kelly have made requests to RTÉ to access all data pertaining to them held by the broadcaster from around the time of the payments controversy that led to him leaving the organisation. READ MORE RTÉ is understood to have spent more than €100,000 in legal fees responding to the request, but it is understood there is a dispute between the parties on the extent of the information that should be provided. The requests were made under data protection law, which entitles people to see what personal information a body holds about them. It is understood the requests were submitted about 18 months ago but have not yet been finalised. RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst told the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday that Tubridy had not repaid to the national broadcaster the €150,000 he received as part of a controversial payment deal in 2020. Tubridy was to be paid a total of €225,000 over three years by RTÉ as part of a deal brokered by him, Mr Kelly and the station in 2020. In return, for the payments, which were not disclosed publicly by RTÉ until 2023, he agreed to participate in three corporate events for Late Late Show sponsor Renault . The payments formed the centre of a controversy that resulted in Tubridy, then RTÉ's highest-paid presenter, leaving the station that year. Asked in 2023 if Tubridy should repay the €150,000 received for those events, Mr Bakhurst said it might not be possible, on a legal basis, to recoup the money. But he also said there was a 'moral case' for Tubridy to repay the sum. The payments were nominally made by Renault but RTÉ underwrote all three and effectively paid Tubridy. The sums were not classified in the broadcaster's annual accounts as salary payments. At the height of the controversy over the 'secret payments' in 2023, Tubridy indicated he would be willing to repay the money should he return to RTÉ.
Irish Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
RTÉ appearance at Oireachtas committee a drab sequel to firework show of two years ago starring Ryan Tubridy
Two years on from the RTÉ scandal that became the greatest show on earth, a cast of 11 Montrose managers returned to Leinster House to meet the Oireachtas media committee . After Ryan Tubridy's spectacular flame-out, this sequel was never going to match the original version. TDs and senators concentrated their questions on a new television marketing campaign for the news division, which is still in production, and on a €3.6 million writedown over a partly abandoned IT project. The marketing campaign has angered some RTÉ staff, not least because actors were hired as extras to film marketing shots about news production. Director general Kevin Bakhurst , who said his job was to 'clean out the stables', complained of 'inaccurate' reporting on this issue. On the suggestion special props were used to improve how the studio looked, he said that was nothing more than two plants being moved from elsewhere in the building. READ MORE [ Ryan Tubridy has not repaid RTÉ €150,000 he received for two promotional events that did not happen, Bakhurst says Opens in new window ] Extras were engaged because the time required for filming would take journalists from their work, RTÉ said. When director of news and current affairs Deirdre McCarthy noted the extras were obscured in the film anyway, one committee member said it seemed actors were paid not to act. The cost of the marketing production thus far was €77,000 plus VAT, with 'five or six' people in Brussels this week for additional filming. Committee chairman Alan Kelly said most observers would consider it 'bananas' for an organisation such as RTÉ to engage an external crew to shoot a marketing film. Bakhurst, however, said RTÉ crews were busy on their own work. On the IT writedown, he accepted the deficit was 'significant'. Still, the political magnitude of the issue seems to have been lost on RTÉ management until a February submission to Minister for Arts and Media Patrick O'Donovan after the botched Arts Council IT project . RTÉ's IT loss cost more than the €2.2 million failure of Toy Show The Musical, so why weren't top executives seized of the matter? Bakhurst said he took the reins only in 2023 and that the impairment was dealt with on the watch of previous finance chiefs. Nothing was hidden, he insisted. Advisory body NewERA, which provides advice to Government on its shareholdings in state companies, had itself sought clarification on the issue. Although RTÉ argued the impairments were properly set out in its accounts, accounting rules are a world away from the heat of an Oireachtas committee. Kelly, the chairman, asked why O'Donovan's department never raised the matter when RTÉ was under intense political scrutiny two years ago. 'No red flag was raised with the department in relation to it by RTÉ or by NewERA – and we didn't raise a red flag in relation to it,' Feargal Ó Coigligh, department secretary general, said. 'I think things would be very different today.' All of this flows from ructions over Tubridy, the man long gone from RTÉ but whose 'ghost' lingers. Bakhurst said Tubridy had not returned €150,000 from the fateful Renault deal that set off the 2023 avalanche. RTÉ had 'no legal basis' to compel repayment, but 'we'd like him to'. Asked whether he expects the former Late Late Show host to take a legal action over the affair, Bakhurst did not expect so, 'but you never know'. Tubridy's agent, Noel Kelly , was mentioned only briefly, but there was no information on the extent of any current dealings of the latter with other RTÉ stars. Two presenters are still paid more than Bakhurst's €250,000 salary under legacy arrangements, but no one will receive more than him in future. After fireworks two summers ago over rampant junketeering and huge severance pay, this was not quite the stuff of high drama.
Irish Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Times
Ryan Tubridy has not returned €150,000 he received from RTÉ for two promotional events that did not happen
Ryan Tubridy , the former Late Late Show presenter, has not repaid RTÉ a sum of €150,000 he received as part of a controversial payment deal in 2020 that was not disclosed publicly, RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has confirmed. Ryan Tubridy was to be paid a total of €225,000 over three years by RTÉ as part of a deal brokered by him, his agent Noel Kelly and the station in 2020. He agreed to participate in three corporate events for Late Late Show sponsor Renault in return for the payments. The payments to Mr Tubridy were not disclosed publicly by the broadcaster until 2023. The payments formed the centre of the scandal, which resulted in Mr Tubridy, RTÉ's highest-paid presenter, leaving the station that year. At the Oireachtas Media Committee, Mr Bakhurst was questioned about the payment by Pádraig O'Sullivan of Fianna Fáil and confirmed that Mr Tubridy, who now works as a London-based broadcaster for Virgin Radio UK and Q102, has never made the repayments. READ MORE The sums were processed through a barter account, which shielded the payments from public view. Mr Tubridy did participate in one promotional event for Renault, but the second and third events did not place. Asked in 2023 should Mr Tubridy repay the €150,000 fee for those events, the director general said that on a legal basis, it might not be available to recuperate. Mr Bakhurst has also said there was a 'moral case' for Mr Tubridy to make the repayment. At the height of the controversy over the 'secret payments' in 2023, Mr Tubridy indicated that he would be willing to repay the money should he return to RTÉ. The payments were nominally made by Renault but RTÉ underwrote all three, totalling €225,000, and effectively paid Mr Tubridy. The sums were not classified in the broadcaster's annual accounts as salary payments. The broadcaster's head of news, Deirdre McCarthy, told the committee that the cost of a TV advertisement promoting the work of RTÉ's newsroom amounted to €77,000 plus VAT – a total of €94,000. The advert has been the subject of recent media reports following the leaking of information that actors had been employed to pose as journalists, and that props had been used. [ Dismay among RTÉ staffers as broadcaster hires actors to play journalists in 'make-believe' ad campaign Opens in new window ] Mr Bakhurst and Ms McCarthy were highly critical of media coverage of the TV adverts. Ms McCarthy said there had been 'factual inaccuracies and misinformation, and a lack of context' in media reports. She told the committee, chaired by Labour TD Alan Kelly, that the adverts featured the daily working lives of three prominent RTÉ journalists, one of whom is Europe editor Tony Connelly . A request had been made to the management of the news division to allow some journalists to feature in the advert, as background 'extras'. Ms McCarthy said it was decided that journalists would not be taken away from their daily duties. Therefore, extras had been hired but they had been shot out of focus and appeared blurred. 'A lot of the misinformation has come from a leak to the media of an internal editorial meeting last [week],' she said. Earlier, Mr Bakhurst told the committee that reports of props being brought into the newsroom were incorrect. He said that other than two plants having been taken from another part of the building into the newsroom, there were no props. Mr Kelly told Mr Bakhurst that the public think the advert is 'bananas' and it has 'annoyed a lot of people'. [ RTÉ confirms €3.6m write down on partly abandoned IT project Opens in new window ] RTÉ executives were criticised by several committee members, including Joanne Byrne, Sen Alison Comyn, Sen Garret Ahearn, and Malcolm Byrne, for only disclosing in March this year that there was a €3.6 million impairment on a new ICT system that was partially abandoned in 2020. Mr Bakhurst confirmed he had only become aware of the impairment more than a year into his term. Asked why he was not told earlier about the impairment, Mr Bakhurst said RTÉ was a big organisation. 'We are trying to clear the stables,' he added, saying that he had disclosed a number of other issues for the broadcaster that had come to light in recent times, including its admission that it repaid €2.7 million in total (including fines) to Revenue for payments made under the Covid-era Temporary Wage Subsidy Scheme to those who were not eligible.
Irish Daily Mirror
28-05-2025
- Business
- Irish Daily Mirror
Taoiseach defends going on Ryan Tubridy's podcast as he hits out at 'witch hunt'
Taoiseach Micheál Martin has defended taking part in former RTÉ broadcaster Ryan Tubridy's podcast, as he said he will not join in a 'witch hunt' of the star. At an Oireachtas Media Committee meeting on Wednesday, RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst confirmed that Mr Tubridy never returned €150,000 that he said he would give back to RTÉ during the financial scandal. In 2023, it emerged that his salary was undeclared by €345,000 over a three-year period due to a 'tripartite agreement' between Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly, RTÉ and Renault. The 'side deal' saw RTÉ underwrite a €75,000-a-year commercial deal with Renault. While Renault paid Mr Tubridy for year one, RTÉ ended up giving Mr Tubridy €150,000. Mr Tubridy had committed to giving the money back but has never done so. The Taoiseach took part in the podcast, The Bookshelf with Ryan Tubridy, last month. When asked if it was appropriate to take part in this and if Mr Tubridy should give the €150,000 back, Mr Martin said he would have to refresh his memory on the €150,000 element of the scandal. The Taoiseach said: 'I find it extraordinary if you're saying I shouldn't participate in podcasts or if somebody is suggesting that. 'We live in a democracy. Ryan Tubridy has to deal with RTÉ and RTÉ has to deal with Ryan Tubridy. 'There's been lots of journalists and broadcasters who have all sorts of sponsorship deals that didn't begin today or yesterday. 'I think we're moving a bit… Irish society has always tolerated free debate and people have podcasts and so on like that. 'I would participate on podcasts who I think are reasonable, the people are reasonable on them. 'I think it is going a bit too far to suggest people are somehow wrong to participate in podcasts.' When asked about Mr Bakhurst's comments at the Media Committee saying he would like if Mr Tubridy gave the money back, the Taoiseach said he would not get involved in a 'witch hunt'. He continued: 'Many broadcasters have had sponsorship deals. 'RTÉ tolerated that for a long time. I'm not going to get into the ins and outs of any particular arrangements between RTÉ broadcasters, former broadcasters. I'm not going to go along with that. 'I didn't hear the hearing. I'm not going to join any witch hunt on any individual. ''I'm not aware of the specifics here. When I say witch hunt, I think there has been an element of a witch hunt in all of this over the last few years. 'I'n not going to go like that and just join any sort of attack on any individual. That's what I'm simply saying.'
