RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816772#Comment_120816772

It hasn't gone away, you know.

Catherine Martin, even as Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, doesn't have the power to unilaterally revoke legislation. So no, there's no clarification needed.

One of the end results of all of this will likely be the introduction of the compulsory Household Media Charge, possibly at a higher rate than the current €160. RTE (or what's left of it), might get a smaller proportion, but maybe more will be distributed to the BAI's Broadcasting Fund, and TV4 will should get direct funding from it instead of it being funneled though RTE. Currently An Post get 7% for collecting the licence (which amounted to €9.9 million in 2021). I know Revenue previously said they wanted no part of collecting the proposed Household Media Charge, but things have changed dramatically since then.

Bulmers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816805#Comment_120816805

so Timmys line of questioning still stands, he / they know something more around cars and gave RTE execs chance to get ahead and come clean.. interesting what more will come out from RTE

screamer

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816646#Comment_120816646

No, we are not desperate, we want the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth out of RTE. It’s what we expect and demand. If a few stars burn up or burn a little less bright because of it, so be it, that is entirely on them. This is not a witch hunt, it’s a search for the truth and a demand for reform, otherwise, RTE will just continue to be a sinkhole for public funds, and we have plenty of bills for Ireland to pay that actually are more important than RTE and it’s antics.

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816781#Comment_120816781

I think it’s the ultimate **** you to Tubridy and the ultimate support to Marty? I think it’s down to how they act and treat people at RTE.

why support someone like this otherwise?

The hatred of Tubs at RTE is something else. They don’t want him or Kelly back, ever.

Viscount Aggro

I am hearing that RT will be back on radio in September.

Thats what they will announce next week.

DeanAustin

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816593#Comment_120816593

Is Marty VAT registered? He’s not a contractor.

elefant

The facts being as they are right now: it's not a great look for Marty Morrissey (although nothing too egregious imo), but it's a great example of the woeful state of things at RTE. Marty Morrissey is a GAA correspondent for the national broadcaster; if Renault want him to do work for them (and work which is essentially exactly the same as the taxpayer is paying Marty to do for RTE) then RTE should be getting paid by Renault.

Why are they signing off on their 'talent' doing their day jobs for somebody else, no questions asked? What other line of work would you be in where your employer would be fine with you having a second job, directly competing with your own current role?

Obviously, it will be worse for both parties if it turns out this was just a way of sweetening a pay packet in some way, without it being publicly visible. As looks to have been the case with Ryan Tubridy. The fact Marty was supposedly doing these gigs gratis out of his love for the GAA (😂), and the car was just a friendly arrangement of some sort because he was sound enough to do it for free, does sound a bit suspect.

Field east

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815829#Comment_120815829

Was that not their job? There are thousands of other broadcasters out there working in media could have done the job just as well for quarter the wage /salary / service payment. The creator of ‘WASH YOUR HANDS ‘ has not got a look in - it’s all about RT

cmac2009

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816816#Comment_120816816

I've thought that for a long time, not just now.

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816798#Comment_120816798

Yep- RTÉ yet to answer the original question

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816816#Comment_120816816

No. It doesn't have to be one extreme or the other. But at the very least if he should have been paying any tax etc as a result of having the car, he should now pay that back.

Similarly with Tubridy, it doesn't have to be one extreme (back on radio like nothing happened) or the other (never work in TV or radio again). I don't think there would be any legal recourse or other means where he would have to pay back any money. It was agreed with RTE, signed off on, and (dodgy invoices aside) was legal. However, it's going to make his position on radio quite untenable for a lot of people, because how is he going to hold others to account for their transgressions? Are RTE staff going to put up with him coming back knowing they all took a paycut with everyone else while Tubridy had a secret arrangement to get more money while acting like he took a paycut with everyone else? Are advertisers/sponsors going to put ads on his show given the public backlash?

He doesn't have to be sacked. However, his reputation and "brand" is now incredibly tarnished and there will be a lot of eyes over the renegotiation of his contract. I would say it's likely he would be offered a much lower salary, possibly even for a different show/timeslot, and I would bet he decides not to take it. He's no longer worth to RTE what he was.

Gregor Samsa

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816843#Comment_120816843

It doesn't seem that Senator Timmy Dooley wants the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. He's claiming that Morrissey has been “pulled into” the RTÉ controversy “unfairly and unnecessarily.”

TinyMuffin

……

gifted

Why did he return the car? He's been driving it for 5 years and had no problem doing so.

Why all of a sudden did he change his mind?

If none of the RT controversy had come to light would he still be driving it?

techman1

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120815830#Comment_120815830

I'd say Stephanie preissner probably sees her stints on RTE drying up now after all this, she has been very quiet throughout, they had a Friday forum thing on newstalk last Friday with anton Savage and a few z listers but the biggest story of the week the RTE scandal wasn't discussed. I'd say all the z listers are scared of this controversy and don't want to discuss it publicly

Schorpio

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816798#Comment_120816798

I'm not sure that Senator Dooley does know of any other shady instance of a car being given out. I reckon he was just asking questions off-the-cuff following on from the information RTE were offering up. I think he is accusing the RTE representatives of employing a 'dead cat' strategy (i.e. throw the media a distraction to deflect the spotlight from themselves).

Senator Dooley seems to be backtracking on his line of questioning. Whether it's because he believes that Marty has done nothing wrong, or whether he is wary of challenging his fellow countyman, who knows.

ZookeeperDub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816772#Comment_120816772

Catherine Martin is not part of the legal system. Ring the Gardai and ask.

Or contact your solicitor and ask them which laws you are allowed to break, they can fill you in

Oscar_Madison

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816855#Comment_120816855

I’d agree to the degree that If there’s more to the story than what Marty put out in his statement, then he deserves to get whacked - he has/had one chance to come clean- I’m not interested in witch hunting Marty but whatever he said in his statement needs to be the full and complete information - he won’t get a second chance.

Field east

‘RTE Investigates’ . Sure it’s handed to them on a plate - the Ryangate issue. It will be the cheapest programme that it will ever make - no mileage to be paid for, Canteen outside office so no food allowance needed, no overnight stays,, all admin support needed is in-house, etc

evolvingtipperary101

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816852#Comment_120816852

It’ll be civil war at RTE if he does come back. The journalists won’t stop digging if he comes back.

jackboy

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816871#Comment_120816871

Have RTE thrown Marty under the bus though to protect someone else? Time will tell.

Montage of Feck

Marty will be a way harder character to be cancelled than Tubs, he's always come across as a bit of a Del boy so his appeal is in no way deminished for his fans.

walshb

Folks need to factor in how aware Marty was that something may be wrong or illegal.

It's highly likely he never at all set out to defraud or deceive or commit any offence. Yes, ignorance (not realizing) is no excuse with the law at times, but it has to be considered when people look and assess.

I bet he was simply going about his business not at all thinking that this issue was illegal or immoral or damaging

Leg End Reject

Talk of a change in the licence fee until trust is restored.

https://www.rte.ie/news/2023/0707/1393257-rte-payments/

evolvingtipperary101

We're now up to €300,543 costs that RTE incurred in order to make €150k payment to Ryan Tubridy. However, this excludes RTE staff time, producer and assistants etc. Probably closer to €350k.

Leg End Reject

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816929#Comment_120816929

Ignorance of the law isn't a defence.

Go try it yourself - go for a spin in your car after a few drinks, keep doing it until you get pulled over and tell the judge you didn't know it was an offence to drive under the influence of alcohol. Let us know how you get on.

If you have side deals, the onus is on you to ensure you're tax complaint.

Infoanon

How aware Marty was or wasn't will not wash withe revenue.

If Marty has the use of a car in lieu of payment for MCing at events , then Marty has a tax liability.

ZookeeperDub

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816754#Comment_120816754

Both RTE and RT have been found to use back door accounts to funnel tax payer money out to RT while declaring to the public a different story.

Since then the information been released is getting worse and worse.

Marty has clearly been pulling a fast one and got caught. He fired out a little statement with no answers so yes people have questions and based on the information from RTE so far and the trickle of issues, it fair to say that most people think that Marty wasn't exactly declaring correctly what he was up to. The statement itself ended up with more questions than answers.

Unless the public stay on top of this it will be pushed under the carpet and everyone will move on with no change in RTE. No it's not Best to just let it flow, and relax"

As a tax payer I wants answers in regards to what is going on and what reform is been made to stop it again. Any tax payer I have talked to have demanded the same

If RT or anyone else then wants to move on from RTE, best of luck to them and I hope they get exactly what they deserve to earn in whichever job they get

evolvingtipperary101

RTE might have to look at limits on time for sponsorship. Think Renault became part of the furniture and obviously way too pally with everyone.Lines have been crossed

Penn

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120816913#Comment_120816913

It was Marty himself who released the statement, and given that Sen.Dooley is saying he wasn't referring to Marty with his questions (as it seems to have been more about someone receiving a car allowance even though they don't drive and don't have a licence which is not what happened with Marty) and that with the amount of documents RTE are likely to have to provide which will be reviewed by the committees it's unlikely RTE are going to be able to protect someone else (and would be getting themselves deeper in the sh*t by doing so), I'd say the whole thing likely does relate to someone else. Marty was just coming forward with something that he should have been declaring. He also said he returned the car about 2 weeks ago and made RTE aware of it, but the Interim DG said the situation Dooley was referring to, that person had only returned the car the day before.