RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

But the 'government' bailout is ultimately coming from the taxpayer, just like the licence fee.

Yes, really.

Seriously, how do you decide what they are worth? Presenters here may or may not be overpaid. I don't know. What's the logic though for coming up with the 'they are overpaid' other than you've been saying it for years? I'm not saying you are wrong by the way, I just don't know what criteria is used to come up with a figure. I personally think in or around €200k - €250k is pretty near the mark for a top presenter here in Ireland. What figure had you in mind?

Our top staff aren't paid the equivalent of the top stars in the UK or the US. Tubs was the best paid presenter in RTE on about €500k. Lineker is on nearly triple that. The top US presenters are paid considerably more. I agree with you that we are a very small country and I'd also agree our presenters shouldn't be paid the same as the top UK or US presenters. But where do you come up with an appropriate figure? You can't really do it on size. The UK has more than 10 times our population so are you suggesting that our presenters should be paid 10 times less than them? So, if a BBC presenter is on £200k, then our presenter should be on the equivalent of £20k? I don't think so.

I agree with you that the slots are more important than the presenter. No issue there. They would generate revenue no matter who was presenting. But how do you determine what portion of the advertising revenue is attributable to the 'talent' and pay them accordingly for the advertising revenue? Is any portion attributable to the presenter? I think that's a calculation that can't be made. And if it can't be made, then how do you argue that someone is overpaid? And if advertising slots in the middle of the night generate fcukall revenue, do you pay the night time presenters fcukall?

Regarding your last paragraph, that's subjective. Well, the part about not being able to do a basic interview is subjective.

Exactly. All this blather about needing to pay "top talent" like Tubridy in case he might shoot off to a competitor or the idea that some reduction in listenership figures would accrue some real world penalty to him, like getting demoted to a graveyard slot on a third of the salary, is utter utter nonsense.

NK loves to use the parlance of the private sector when RTE is actually far far removed from those realities and is in fact like most if not all other state run bodies in Ireland. Jobs for the boys. Waste of public money on a monumental scale. Incompetent individuals left in post til retirement and often promoted and on and on and on.

Funnily enough Dee Forbes had no problem in potentially losing staff moving lyric to Dublin.

Ironiclly the vast majority of "top talent" in my eyes is on Lyric.

That storyline has all the hallmarks of that misery merchant!!!

Agree what you’re saying, how many people watch MOD on a Saturday and Sunday nights in Ireland alone, It’s being watched in our house from a small boy in the 1970s. Rte needs the government to cut the purse strings and sell it off, we have sky Tv, tik tok, YouTube, Facebook etc, Rte is the past,

Aren't you the poster who somehow managed to shoehorn your alleged wages (140k) into this debate.

Aren't you the poster who then deleted that post because even by your own standards it was truly embarrassing.

Aren't you the same poster who fires out insults all day long on boards and yet reported my post when I pointed out some of your hypocrisy?

I've been very careful not to say anything here that might warrant another reporting.

Feel free to respond if any of this isn't true.

I always thought it a little strange that Tubridy actively distanced himself from Toy show: The Musical. Apart from the odd reference to it on his radio show and LLS, his support from it was noticeably absent from the get-go. A little unusual considering he was partly the inspiration for it.

He was even asked about this lack of support at the PAC hearings. His reply was something along the lines of " I wished the creators all the best in their endeavors".

It's been alluded to recently that he may have had his own Toy Show themed project in the works. Hence the reluctant support for a rival project.

A Toy Show theme park anyone?

I see RuthAnne involved in the music. The sage RuthAnne who range Joe Duffy a few times. Not sure what she was complaining about but she’s worked with artists in tge states etc so ° might be ok. It kind of smells of a jobs for the clique effort though.

Hi ButtersSuki you said you were offered some of these trips in your time but you personally weren't interested in golf or football events.

Just say you were a big media buying agency on Geraldine O learys books and she offered one of those sporting trips, you declined because not interested in those ,however I am interested in a Jazz or Blues concert in a foreign capital. Would Geraldine o leary accommodate you ?, I doubt it

The only reason these specific events were chosen was because Geraldine o leary herself wished to travel to them. I doubt she would act as host at for example the montreux jazz festival. I would love to be a fly on the wall though if a major advertising buyer was trying to steer her in that direction