RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

I don't think they would have. Bills to pay...to please the lions.

Did you mean that you don't think Tubridy did anything legally wrong or morally wrong?

In terms of his morals, he has no standing;

-He effectively refused to take a paycut during the 340k top up period. Not one shite given about his so-called 'friends' in the canteen at RTE while taking this side money.

-He knowingly allowed his proxy Kelly and RTE to conspire to conceal these topups.

-Once the heat started to come on, his first statement contained self-serving lies, blameshifting, half-truths and sly appeals for sympathy with the victim card.

-Him and his agent continued these antics in the PAC hearings. They also managed to throw in a big F**k You to the PAC and taxpayer with that bullshit late document stunt.

-During Covid, misled the public that 'we were all in the same boat' when behind the grin, he knew this was untrue.

-Lied to the public one last time with his statement on Wed, attempting to revise history and as usual with lies, it backfired.

The legal side of it isn't all sunshine and roses either.

-Legally he's sitting on €120k of taxpayers money which, despite his pledge to return it, remains resting in his account.

-Legally, Tubridy and his proxy may face exposure because they conspired, along with RTE to possibly defraud the tax payers of this country.

So if you don't think Tubridy did anything wrong, per se, as you say, then I don't know what to tell ya buddy.

I found myself watching one of those Irish community tv stations the other day- these should all be closed and their content- both existing and future- transferred across to RTÉ 2 instead - it makes total sense to put them there and then everyone can see in one place all of the efforts RTÉ are doing to help communities- if advertisers want to advertise at greatly reduced rates then great, especially if it supports local businesses - we really have to have a robust conversation around just what is RTÉ doing with all the public money it’s getting and just how is it supporting the whole of Ireland

Legally he was paid by RTE as per an agreement for his services. He didn't steal the money and it wasn't deposited in his account by accident.

RTE could sue him to have the money returned and they might do that but he obtained the money legally and he won't be charged with any offence. Same goes for your point about the pay deal itself. Any wrong doing would be on RTE's side there.

As for the moral argument I addressed that in my original post. We've all got high moral standards here on the internet though and we'd never do anything like that for €345,000.

The idea Ryan has done something illegal is just wrong. He has not. I know some people don’t like him, but that is very nasty.

Ryan has been through a lot this summer, people should be kind to a man who has always been kind to others.

I'm moral enough to know that it's wrong to assist in concocting a scheme to hide my pay while trumpeting the opposite to the nation at large. It's not a particularly high bar.

I also know that invoicing for 'consultancy services' that I didn't provide is not just immoral, but illegal, and if the ODCE was doing it's job I might be expecting a knock on the door from them. I won't hold my breath though.

You are arguing points that weren't made. Read my post again. You are also ignoring points I did make. Not really proper order but sure each to thier own.

The point I made is that if he doesn't return that money, then RTE are can take legal action to recover it. He is no longer entitled to this money because he is no position to fulfill this clause in his contract.

As for your final paragraph, I hope for your sake that's not a Freudian slip. Otherwise I'd worry about your own moral compass. The sad thing is that Tubridy did these things for a sum of money, which in relative terms wasn't a fortune to him.

The 'we' mention in your last paragraph, must only be talkin bout yourself. Don't be projecting your own issues onto the rest of us. Sound.

I guess I “kicked” him as he was falling down😆- he’s down now, so for me, that’s it- as I say, I’m not criticising your right to express your view of the situation in any way- totally a personal choice for myself.

Ha he was being hailed as a great journalist by many on this thread few weeks ago

To me this is the most egregious one. An extremely cynical play to keep the Irish public away from their right to due process. And avoid any hard hitting questions. Ryan is clearly allergic to being brought off script. There's no other way to view it.

If he had any sense at all he'd simply have gone into that meeting with an apology. Did NK and Ryan REALLY think that people were stupid enough to believe that the 75k was some separate thing?

This is all that was required. He had no intention of returning to the late late anyway. I think at this stage given that he wasn't gonna be on TV anymore most people would have forgotten him if not forgiven. I've never liked him but I'd probably also have begrudgingly moved on. He'd then have his easy radio gig while still being paid eyewatering money and ample time to make more on the side however he chose.

But it seems its just not in his capability to be contrite and he's far too long in the tooth for the silly innocent child misled by NK to be an excuse. Play stupid games win stupid prizes.

Yeah definitely a f**k around and find out situation.

But personally I've nothing against Tubridy, ultimately I don't think he's a bad guy. Shallow and spoiled, yeah but not a proper pr*ck. It's tough not to feel for the guy. He's on a hard road(for him). He's also in the ha-penny place compared to some that could be mentioned. A lot of it is down to his agent. Never was a man so badly advised. So publically.

Egos are a detriment to the best of people. And, theres an undeniable subtext to this, the power struggle between Noel Kelly and RTE. This false-friend of Tubridy, seems not have his best client's best interests at heart, either through incompetence or agenda. My overall perception of Kelly throughout PAC was a spoofer, a Del-Boy without the gift of the gab...jabbering on like a broken record about Big Bad RTE. What leverage did Kelly think he had with RTE, that allowed him attack them in PAC without a thought for the repercussions on his clients? Whatever the reasoning, he did Tubridy and the rest of his stable no favours. Was Kelly fighting for himself or Tubridy?

It won't be the last we see of him though, Kelly has a lot of questions to answer as do RTE.

Sadly for Ryan, he didn't widen his circle of advisers throughout this and step outside the echo-chamber Kelly had him trapped in. Hopefully, he will bear this in mind with his next agent. The people who represent you are a reflection of you, ultimately.

It would be great to get an objective report from an independent firm of Forensic Accountants, a detailed probe accounting for all income and expenditure.

Cause, to be honest with ya, at the moment the whole place looks like Bernie Madoffs' wet dream of a Ponzi scheme. Perpetually funded on the backs of it's regular staff, and a gullible(at best) government with our money.

The Boardroom and senior management, and favoured production companies both past and present have earned eye-watering amounts and for what? Mediocrity slowly fading into irrelevance.

You are right we are a small country which means we really don't have big celebrity names that can pull in big audiences and big sponsorship deals. Most of our big celebrities are making a living either in the UK or the US. Because of this reason RTE seem to focus on promoting so called celebrities by splashing them across their TV Radio and social media platforms. It seems to be so easy to become a celebrity in Ireland today with social media and the right agent behind you.

Unlikely. Didn't he start at RTE as a teen. I'd say it's a certainty every gig he's ever gotten there has been via a nod and a wink.

Few people expressing sympathy with poor Tubs here. Can't say I can summon up any myself. He's earned more in the last decade than everyone on this forum will amass in a lifetime, for doing a pisspoor job. I can guarantee you, he'll never worry about inflation, utility bill rises or wonder how he's going to make it to the end of the month. He hired a shark to do a sharks job. He was fully aware of the underhanded nature of the undisclosed top ups and was happy to play along and make hay off his "we're all together in this" claptrap.

Instead of coming clean and holding up his hands that he and his agent were greedy pigs with snouts in the trough, he's still trying to cling onto the wreckage of his old, now defunct caring sharing Ryan Tubridy persona. He still can't accept any blame and he was only delighted to return to his cushy job, while RTE go into meltdown around him, with imminent job losses incoming, much of which is directly related to him and what would have been his continued presence.

No one should spend a second thinking about Ryan Tubridy or his future because I can assure you he spends no time thinking about anyone else's.

And anyway, like all good Fianna Failers, he'll just have to do a spell in the wilderness and then when all this is old news and long forgotten, he'll be reinstated back in the fold. A near certainty.