RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Indo headline today,

"Kevin Bakhurst wanted an excuse to pull out of deal, says Tubridy inner circle"

So doubling down on the doubledown.

Puppetry... on the radio. Talk me through that

I remember listening to Niall Boylan when Classic Hits launched as 4fm. I thought it was a breath of fresh air having a late night chat show but as time went on I found that he had the same callers on every night and if you didn't have the same opinion as him he would shut you down. I don't think he would get a look in as he was always using his chat show to critise RTE. Rightly or wrongly I just don't think Niall Boylan would abide by the rules as he is very opinionated and could cause controversy which is the last thing RTE wants while this scandal is on going.

Yeah on some level I would empathise with Bahkurst. He's been left in a horrible position by Forbes. He has shown real strength of character, shoveling the **** he's been asked to shovel while maintaining his composure. He clearly has good polical instincts as well. He wisely neutralised Kelly, and out-manoeuvred Tubridy while at the same time setting a sensible € benchmark for the salary negotiations to come.

Forbes on the other hand has left everyone high and dry, this really speaks as to her character. And, as another poster said it certainly calls into question the judgement of those who appointed her in the first place.

I really hope Bahkurst gets results out of all this. I don't think he's the great reformer that many think he is, he hasn't done enough to justify that tag just yet. He is also an RTE oldboy. And this is room for suspicion in itself, given that he would have been exposed to RTE Corporate culture and was aware of how they operate on many levels. I hope I'm wrong about my cynicism for Bahkurst but it's hard not to be. He shouldn't have ignored the grassroots in RTE when attempting to reinstate Tubridy. That was a mistake that he may live to regret.

RT maintains he had been planning to leave for the previous year and had been discussing it with people close to him.

I find that extremely hard to believe.

As for the recent developments, RTs position was untenable, I have no idea why KB was trying to bring him back on the airways in any instance. Part of the rational for these guys being contractors for the employer is you don't have to beat around the bush with this type of thing. Just don't renew the contract.

Maybe we can move to more important questions no that RT is off the table. When are we going to hear from Dee Forbes and the remainder of the board? When are charges going to be brought against individuals? What is the future for RTE?

Tubridy maintains he made the decision to leave TLLS well in advance of the enquiry- doing this wouldn’t have stopped “awkward questions” as he still had his radio show and obviously wanted to remain with RTÉ so no, I don’t believe he left TLLS because of that -

I think he left it because he knew what a poisoned chalice it really was and has just kept up the facade in recent years to make the most of the ludicrous salary he was on- now with the hay made, he thought he’d spread his wings a bit, do money for old rope on his radio show for close to 200k a year and spend his time doing other projects.

Obviously that hasn’t gone his way- however he can still do those “other projects” - it’s actually a pity he hadn’t written that JFK book as now would be the perfect time.

Id day he’ll be back to writing and researching another book- something about Ireland or a former Irish politician - honestly can’t think who as so much has been written about so many- so maybe it will be about a place- likely somewhere in Connemara- but will need to be something that catches the imagination as again, so many books on that place.

Ryan’s name still on the website for tomorrows show- looks like they haven’t made the new jingle yet 🤪

https://www.rte.ie/entertainment/listings/radio/#/radio_1/2023-08-21/

I see Kathryn(shouty)Thomas mentioned above and people wondering what's goin on - Pretty simple explanation afaic...classic Noel Kelly at work. Was most likely a deal that was done and dusted before the Tubs payment scandal - contract signed months ago and cannot be reneged on irrespective of the bad optics now. It's exactly how Noel works - Think 'Drivetime' for instance...cash-strapped RTE replaces 1 presenter with 2 (Cormac O'Hara being an NKM lad, certainly at the time) Cormac proceeds to destroy the show imo. The result of these two placements simply makes Kelly more money

How Kelly got away with this time and time again is the big question and would need a standalone investigation. I would guess a deep-dive into Forbesy's emails/phone comms would help

I noticed Kelly was extremally reluctant to divulge how much he was paid for a particular deal during the committees and was let off - he shouldn't have been let off. We need to know how many millions have been paid to NKM (via RTE) over the years...It's public money, the clue is in the committee name - The Public Accounts Committee

Separately -

While Bakhurst's hand was forced into dumping Tubridy, the net result of that is he [KB] has now been blooded - he's made his first kill and it will make any further kills that much easier. So I hope that Mr Bakhurst has become emboldened and more confident in his role. I'd say he's feeling pretty good right now...because it sure was a 'baptism of fire'

I don't understand, given the timing, and the loss of licence fees right now, how the media is not querying the doubling up of presenters for the Rose of Tralee. Not that I would watch it regardless, but I don't want to be on the hook for paying 2 presenters instead of 1 right now (currently have the licence).