RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

I’d agree with newcavanman though in that he doesn’t display the sharpness and wit that made him attractive to audiences in the past- he showed RTÉ that you could do a successful show without demanding nearly a million quid a year and I’d say that put a few noses out of joint- all of us (I don’t think there was one exception from the regular contributors) on the TV forum were in disbelief when Brendan’s Saturday night show got canned- it far out punched the LLS.

Brendan hasn’t really been the same since- he had his 15 minutes in the big spotlight- I don’t think he blew it- on the contrary I think he was a victim of his own success and talent and showed up other highly more paid presenters as being overinflated talentless bores.

He developed the “be kind” facade not out of choice but necessity. He isn’t funny nor good looking so he needed something to hook the public with.

Someone with charm and wit and who was more irreverent and bolshy like Gerry Ryan would have weathered this storm. Ryan’s brittle “be kind” veneer is completely at odds with how he actually behaved.

I really do think his days as a top draw at RTE are numbered.

This latest twist will mystify almost everyone because they misunderstand the entire, baffling situation.

The question “Why drop Tubs over his latest statement?” can be added to the more fundamental questions about this scandal I.e. “Why does RTÉ pay their morning DJ like he’s a mega-star?” or “Why does RTÉ pretend that their staff are independent contractors?” or “Why was RTÉ negotiating against itself?” The nonsense about guaranteeing the €75K p.a. Renault payments just highlights the absurd lengths RTÉ management went to when trying to overpay their “top talent”.

Some may think this is a kind of Stockholm syndrome where RTE management bought into their own BS about their irreplaceable “stars” (who had nowhere else to go). That might be a factor but I think there is a much more rational and self-interested motive behind this apparently crazy behaviour.

Think of RTÉ as a sports team that is the dominant team in a fourth-rate, local league. Thanks to very generous and always reliable donors, the team can outspend the other, much poorer, teams in their league, and so is always top the table and has a “deep bench”, I.e. takes on far more players than it needs. And there is still plenty of money to spend on the backroom staff. The groundskeeper is the “Executive Director for Estate Management”, the guy on the turnstile is the “Commercial Vice-President” and the lad who just hangs around giving his unwanted opinions is now “Director of Strategy”.

When the players discover the money these chancers are on, all hell breaks loose but the team can’t pay big money to the players without cutting down the squad size, the least popular solution. Instead, they pay big bucks to a few “top players” so that the backroom salaries look reasonable. When it comes to negotiating the top players’ salaries, the management have good reason to side with these players. Only a team with such lucrative players could support a massive and overpaid backroom staff I.e. themselves.

For a long time, this worked very well for management and the top players. But Tubs broke the unspoken rule by dumping on management. He did it first in June when he issued that “nothing to do with me” statement , then he repeated the dose at the PAC. This week’s statement showed that he in unrepentant I.e. he doesn’t know the game is up and he wants “top talent” pay even if that means dumping on management. Bakhurst doesn’t want that attitude infecting his team, meaning he doesn’t want Noel Kelly around anymore.

I don’t think we know the half of what the “staff resentment” is all about but now that Tubridy is not coming back for the foreseeable future I’m betting we’re going to get stories from “sources” over the coming weeks that might lift the lid on this- potentially in the weekend papers this weekend.

Someone above mentioned that Gerry Ryan would have weathered this storm- I actually don’t think he would have. Back in 2008 or 09, can’t remember which but Gerry made a huge deal about taking a pay cut at the time of the great economic depression and eventually conceded - he made a big song and dance about it on his show and I’d say that was one of the reasons why he didn’t get TLLS gig- he was just tone deaf to the realities of the ordinary people in the depressed Irish economy that paid his inflated salary- probably greatly affected by the illegal chemicals swirling around in his system

Maybe rte need to get rid of independent contractors and start hiring staff

Disagree. Had he been a good boy and closed his gob, he'd be back in his old slot in September.

But the goon just had to have another swipe and try to paint himself as wholly without fault. He wanted to just take up where he left off in June. Bakhurst, dealing with a licence fee crisis and a staff crisis as well, couldn't put up with anymore.

This decision should have been made a month ago. But as has been said, we got the right outcome for the wrong reasons.

I wouldn't exactly be a huge fan of Terry Prone but Ryan Tubridy would do very well to listen several times to what she had to say on TV last night. She's a long time in the media/ advertising/ public relations business and that's what she knows. She cut to the chase, that he is the author of his own misfortune. That all the stuff about his adoring fans and the poor children of Ireland was just publicity material and irrelevant to the matters in hand.

Tubridy has become a problem and a large part of that problem is the fatal mistake of believing your own publicity.

Given the apparent close relationship between NKM and the Independent, it was interesting to also note Fionnán Sheehan's contribution...

I can’t see Tubridy returning any time soon and by soon I’m saying 2 years. I think both RTÉ and Tubridy need a break from each other.

However if Tubridy retains the ability to bring in the revenue from advertising via listenership or viewership figures, then there’s always that possibility -RTÉ do need money after all.

But the question is, what would be the right gig for Tubridy on RTÉ? I don’t think he’ll EVER be offered a morning radio slot on RTÉ- EVER. So in that sense, yes I think that door has been slammed firmly in his face.

Shows like The Meaning of Life would have been handy enough for him but Joe Duffy has that gig. Tubridy thought he could do his handy morning show, make 170k a year and have so much time then to dip into pet projects with a comfortable income supporting him- that boat has sailed.

His semi-retirement comfortable 50s existence has been placed on hold for the time being. If he ever came back to RTÉ airwaves it would be either through an external production company selling a show featuring Tubridy or it would be something very low key like a Mike Murphy The Arts Show type gig- speaking of which I used to love that show- it’s a pity they shelved it.

Again I think its just about becoming more mature. I dont think he is lacking any "sharpness and wit". Since those early days he has written eloquently about the experience of having a daughter with special needs and those type of life experiences can change a person, often for the better. As a result he may have more of an interest in more serious topics nowadays, nothing wrong with that.

I agree with your last part that he showed up other higher paid presenters but I still think he is very good at what he is doing now and Id have him as a replacement on the RT radio show over a lot of the other names mentioned.

Lets wait and see how PK does. A couple of good LLS' and he might be offered the radio slot. Soon, Tubs might be a distant memory.

Tubs does an odd job and the country does a collective, "Urgh, not him again".

Part of it also was Gerry had a lot of debts from extensively renovating the family home in Clontarf and also his recent breakup from the wife did not come cheap in any way whatsoever. He had a lot of money issues.

Ehh - I don't think you'd really want the current Ballsy on the radio every 9am. Unless you want to drive the listening public into a state of navel gazing & depression.

So who is your preferred candidate then?