RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

HildaOgdenx · 28-07-2023 10:03am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906508#Comment_120906508

Spot on. One of the reasons I had to very quickly give up on watching the LLS was the sheer lack of ease he has when it comes to interviews or indeed basic conversation. Another I will add to the list, his interview with Dolores Keane. Dolores declared happily that she was now fully recovered from cancer and while I can't remember exactly what he said, my memory of it is that he rushed back to the cue cards for the next scripted question. Whereas most people would respond with something like - 'that's brilliant news, I'm delighted to hear it' and go on from there.

I have said it previously, he has no natural curiosity about people and no ability to relate to them or draw them out in what would appear to be natural conversation when in the hands of a good interviewer.

Graham Norton is someone who, imo, has a natural ability in this regard. I know his show is recorded, and therefore anything awkward can be taken out, but I do believe he can go with the flow. It's mostly light-hearted but he is equally at home with a topic if it takes a turn into something more serious too. He also comes across as intelligent and very clued-in.

Gay Byrne's LLS tribute show for The Dubliners is something I have mentioned here before. It's a great piece of viewing. Gay is in his absolute element. You get the feeling that he is ready for anything, if someone says the wrong thing or whatever, he is right there, almost enjoying the fact that something could go wrong.

I seldom if ever heard Tubridy's radio show thankfully but I do remember yet another poor effort from him, at doing his job. Interviewing Angie Benhaffaf, the mother of the conjoined twins from Cork, after the successful operation to separate them. An articulate woman with an extraordinary story to tell. Literally all he had to do was allow her to speak. But once again, he demonstrated his inability to do just that. I switched off the radio.

I don't have children so the toy show is of less than zero interest to me but over the years from things I read, or clips that were shown elsewhere, it became less and less child-centred and more and more centred around Tubridy's ego. What a shame.

Things should never have been allowed to run on as they did with all of these untalented and vastly overpaid presenters (Tubridy, Duffy, Darcy etc) but from the glimpse we have received so far into the parallel universe that is RTE, we can see how easily things reached this sorry state.

Are there better things ahead? I don't know. I am not sure Bakhurst or anyone else has the courage or the vision to do the needful.

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 10:07am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906716#Comment_120906716

It's not really plausable though. What do you do with the existing RTE staff? Is part of the plan making nearly everyone in RTE redundant and hiring new people for the jobs?

And if you try to make wholesale changes, how likely is it that the unions would allow a new set-up?

A culture change is needed, but that's an ultra-marathon, not a sprint. You can't do it all in one go.

nacho libre · 28-07-2023 10:15am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120905431#Comment_120905431

That was hilarious. Ryan caught out lying and shows he does not do any research about his guests either. Cuba had the measure of him very quickly and ruthlessly exposed his shortcomings as a presenter

skimpydoo · 28-07-2023 10:21am

I just finished recording another great podcast and unlike Ryan I did not rely on cue cards and for around 40 minutes the conversation flowed naturally. Something you will never see in a RT interview.

RTE should be giving someone else a chance. RT had his chance on numerous occasions and has blown it too many times.

RoTelly · 28-07-2023 10:32am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906791#Comment_120906791

How long is an ultra marathon? Because this has be boiling up for the last 10 years. Where do you start? What short term changes do you make? We're now 2 months from this and I have not seen a plan from RTÉ.

meanwhile Tubs and Sinead O'C on TLLS competition is keeping this story going.

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 10:51am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906953#Comment_120906953

Changing a culture can take years and years, especially in a semi-state organisation with a strong union.

It's possible to make wholesale changes to senior management such as the board and executive board quite quickly but you risk destabalising the organisation by doing that. Plus you risk several legal battles if the senior members feel they haven't done anything wrong. I think a lot of people would risk it though to get rid of the rot. I wouldn't favour that approach to be honest. I'd be more inclined to prune the worst offenders rather than chopping down the tree. I've seen someone come in with a new broom before and sweep the existing management clean, replace them with new people and it didn't work out at all. Cost the business millions. And to be perfectly honest, the same happened in another place I worked and it worked a treat. It's a risk, that's all I'm saying.

And changing the board members is only part of the battle. Plenty of people down the foodchain have their own little fiefdoms. They'd be even harder to root out.

It's clear that a very robust governance system is needed, but that can't be put in place overnight. It'll take a long time to get everyone on board.

ButtersSuki · 28-07-2023 10:58am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906791#Comment_120906791

It’s not uncommon when a company is taken over that existing staff have to re-apply for their jobs.

I wouldn’t rule out a liquidation/dissolvement of the existing entity and the creation of a “new” RTÉ. It would be one way to instill a new culture, make some strategic “removals”, and impose new pay levels and working conditions on shall we say a very settled staff.

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 11:00am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907126#Comment_120907126

Has that ever happened with a semi-state company?

Good luck imposing new pay levels and working conditions on semi-state employees with the blessing of their unions.

Baba Yaga · 28-07-2023 11:12am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906791#Comment_120906791

a fish rots from the head down so start at the top and keep going till you get to the good stuff...there must be good people work there so find them(shouldnt be that hard) ...no it wouldnt be easy but its a few months already since this started and and a whole lot of sweet fcuk all has been done...the unions wouldnt be that easy but ive found through my own job that unions shout and make a shite ton of noise but in the end seem to follow the employers/goverment line in the end and look after themselves before their members (cant go into it here but a quick google of payrise and high court injunction should get you the story)

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 11:16am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907221#Comment_120907221

With respect, is your own job in the public service or a semi-state organisation.

I work in the public service. I could take a sh1t on my manager's desk today and not get sacked.

walshb · 28-07-2023 11:18am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906200#Comment_120906200

An absolute sh1tebag

Brendan Bendar · 28-07-2023 11:23am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907236#Comment_120907236

😯

Go for it…….

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 11:26am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907269#Comment_120907269

Working from home today so........no sh1tting on desks today for me. 🤣

28-07-2023 11:27am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120906846#Comment_120906846

Cuba gave Ryan his show me the money moment and when it was time to move on , question 2 and are about “show me the money” 😂😂

RoTelly · 28-07-2023 11:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907087#Comment_120907087

Unfortunately you don't have that time. You are currently in the situation that you suggest save for the legal battles.

You seem to see no short term fixes in your marathon. RTÉ itself is crumbling down, I'd question if it has a foundation at this stage.

RoTelly · 28-07-2023 11:31am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907246#Comment_120907246

How are all of these people acting like such A-holes? It is very strange?

Baba Yaga · 28-07-2023 11:34am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907236#Comment_120907236

i wish i was public service or semi-state!! no private...i get that public/semi state is different a bit but i have noticed in any dispute(in particular with public/semi state bodies) the union makes alot of noise then it hits the head lines followed by 'intense overnight negotiations' and then the announcement that they got nearly what was wanted...i get the feeling it all a show...and also,i think correct me if im wrong,you have to be in a union in the public/semi state so the income/subs to the union are more or less assured...sorry but ive a very cynical view of unions since we(in my area) got shafted by them around 2009/2010...

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 11:37am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907303#Comment_120907303

First thing to do. Put someone very strong in charge. Tighten up on the financial stuff. Bring every single accound under the remit of the finance department, i.e. no more barter accounts that aren't included in the accounts. Have everyone tighten their belts. That would be a good start.

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 11:38am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907326#Comment_120907326

I'm not a member of the Union so no, you don't have to be a member. Maybe in some areas people are pressured into joining but that's not the case where I am.

RoTelly · 28-07-2023 11:50am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907353#Comment_120907353

You have the right to join a union or not, I think its constitutional, you may not be forced by your employer or anyone to join one.

bladespin · 28-07-2023 11:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907411#Comment_120907411

Technically true but often not the case I'm afraid, even in today's world.

RoTelly · 28-07-2023 11:52am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907341#Comment_120907341

So that is now done, no barter, no agents, no fancy expenses, no office desks. Its been 2 months. Now your into what 5k down that 45k marathon. Next 5k

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 11:53am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907411#Comment_120907411

Yeah, I know that you have the right to join a union and equally you can't be forced. But peer pressure is a thing. Anyway, like I said, there's no peer pressure to join where I work.

walshb · 28-07-2023 12:06pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907311#Comment_120907311

Not strange at all. Most celebrities act like assholes. Sometimes it’s what makes them celebrities..rudeness is a default position for many

Hyperbollix · 28-07-2023 12:09pm

Fascinating set of interview clips over the last few pages showing Tubridy's complete inability to do the job he is vastly overpaid to do.

What is also interesting is they almost all date from Tubs early seasons in the LL hotseat. This tells me that whether by accident or design, less and less big names appeared on the show during his tenure. I've always felt the show became more insular, parochial, misery focused and just very small time compared with the show that Gay and PK presented. Thats of course very inkeeping with the type of low rent cabaret act that Tubs is better suited to.

Christ almighty. We went from Gay interviewing Sinead OC, giving her a platform to tell afew home truths to good old Catholic Ireland, to Tubs insulting a few A and B listers and eventually swapping them for Demot Bannon and Francis Brennan because he can't actually do his job properly.

Ps... RE: Julliette Binoche, if Tubs is as I suspect he is, hugely intimated by intelligent women who could lose him in a conversation, how did he hold onto that Rose of Tralee winner / maths genius for those few years!

Maybe Mr Tubs is perhaps not as dainty or little as we might think 😂

walshb · 28-07-2023 12:11pm

In fairness the Gay-O’Connor interviews were creepy. Awful stuff. Gay had an awful hard-on around her. It came across sleazy.

who can forget the wandering hand running up and down her back story that Sinead told. She was telling us of his creepy behaviour.

28-07-2023 12:25pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907326#Comment_120907326

I was in a union in the public service and quite frankly some reps were way over-friendly with management and allowed some extremely serious sh1t go on unchallenged. They were kind of like Noel Kelly being cosy with RTE. So I’m pretty cynical about them. You didn’t have to be in a union, but you’d be extra shat upon by both management & Union folk if you weren’t.

BattleCorp · 28-07-2023 12:28pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907421#Comment_120907421

I'm half with you. No fancy expenses and no barter accounts, fine.

I think legally you can't say no agents. People are entitled to hire agents to represent themselves.

No office desks. What's going on there?

But in principle, yes, that's the way to go. Do 5k, then another 5k. The problem is that the first 5k is easy, it gets harder after that.

Hyperbollix · 28-07-2023 12:28pm

I think Gay Byrne's relationship with SoC was more a worried protective father of a young innocent girl than anything actually creepy. Gay knew the world she was entering and the dangers it contained.

I think he knew the young Sinead was like a startled horse before a race and the hand on the back was his way of trying to let her know she was doing great and all would be well.

Every man isn't Harvey Weinstein.

ButtersSuki · 28-07-2023 12:49pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120907138#Comment_120907138

I'm not saying it would be easy, but I am saying something radical like this is needed.

There are from my years of dealing with the place many, many people in there on way too much money for very cushy numbers OR doing very little by way of hours - and I'm not talking about the "talent" here. It is genuinely difficult to get anyone in the Commercial Team to commit to any afternoon meetings, or to even get them on the phone some days.

I spoke much earlier in the thread of how at one stage during negotiations to sponsor a show I had a senior person in there tell me they couldn't commit to any afternoon meetings as they had to collect their kids after school. I won't name them but it wasn't GO'L, it was a male. And what's worse is they didn't even have the cop on to say something like "I'm fully booked in the afternoon for the next 3 weeks" or something like that, it was them being too honest. You don't say to clients "I have to collect my kids from school". I'd love to collect my son from school but I have to go to work during those hours. This was in the middle of negotiations to sponsor a show - and this was a six-figure deal....not exactly something to be sniffed at. It was the type of deal that someone working in sales/Commercial in the private sector would go above and beyond to secure. With RTE you always feel like they're the ones doing you a favour. I don't want to say much more on this for fear of being identified btw.

Another example of this type of treatment is any meetings with RTE are when it suits RTE, not the other way around. RTE's relationships are with Media Agencies, not advertisers (i.e. the one paying the Media Agency). I can say that professionally those I know in Media Agencies largely feel the same way - that the dealings are not the most professional, it's difficult to get meetings etc., but that's probably part of why they get (or rather got) showered with junkets.

The standards in there are appalling, even by semi-state standards. And let's face it, RTE staffers don't see themselves as working for a semi-state, they see themselves as far more important than that.

RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

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