RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

I think the Chair of RTE is a very poor performer. How did she ever get the role?

Good point made about leave of absence versus early retirement. The latter makes attendance at the PAC etc easier to avoid by any ex-employee so wishing.

I agree.

If you or I presented TLLS on a Friday night, (seriously), there would still be an audience (albeit a greatly reduced one) - there are a cohort of people (mostly retired) who will watch RTÉ 1 every week regardless of the crap that’s produced.

So, RT obviously has a much greater audience pulling power than you or me. But we know TLLS has been getting slammed for years now in terms of its content and it’s lecture consdending presentation style.

And also, there’s tons more alternatives to watch on a Friday evening - so competiton is fierce - quality of the presenter is one thing but quality of the guests/show is equally important in my view- it’s what will attract those additional audience viewers over and above the blue rinse brigade -the presenter is one element, an important element but not the only element.

I see TLLS heading to oblivion because the structure of the show is completely outdated - we’re hanging on to a relic of the past for no good reason.

I’ll give Kielty a few months to find his feet but if the structure of the show is simply a variation on what we’ve had to date, he won’t gain that valuable money spending younger audience that advertisers crave.

As of this week it seems. Honestly feels like a "well **** ya anyway" after Tuesday's performance.

Are people here happy with Kielty getting €250k per year for doing the LLS? Is he being overpaid for the gig?

There's no way that the public broadcaster is dependent on any one person who does a radio show for 1 hour per day. It doesn't make any senses that it's even such a huge decision.

It's a tiny part of the overall RTE deliverables. Cut the cord and move on!

As I understand it, its not a question of PAYE wages, rather that Tubridy sends in an invoice for services.

My impression is that Tubridy is still invoicing RTE but that RTE have not made a decision on whether to pay them or not.

See, here's my issue.

People are crapping on about Tubs being overpaid yet it looks to me like he wasn't being overpaid for what he did.

If €250k is the going rate for the LLS, then RT should be paid €250k for it. But Tubs did another job. He did his radio show. The typical pay for a top radio presenter in Ireland is probably close to €250k too. So it looks to me that people who say Tubs was overpaid are off the mark.

You are correct that the LLS has gone down the toilet in the last 15 years. It can be improved for sure.........just get rid of the non-stop misery sections would be my first port of call.........but I don't think it can be made good. We can't get the calibre of guests that someone like Graham Norton can get. We are too small and movie stars won't bother coming to Ireland to promote their films as it's not worth their while.

Kelly says RTE has a record of a Teams call between Noel Kelly and Dee Forbes - and nobody else - in April 2022, at a time when Kelly was pursuing payment for years 2 and 3 of the €75k arrangement.

Kelly told the PAC two days ago they had never had unaccompanied meetings

That meeting was followed by an email which referred to the outcome of the Teams call, and which included a proposal to follow up with Geraldine O’Leary (then-head of commercial) to arrange payment.

RTÉ presenting this as proof that Kelly and Forbes were at one on situation

….. double post

Lynch getting a well earned slap

Most people's issue is not that Tubridy received over payments - it is that he received hidden payments, If the correct figure had been given on the day the earnings were released, there'd have been plenty of complaining for a day or two but none of this drama would have come about.