RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

”offers sparse” - diplomatic way of saying “we wouldn’t touch him with a barge pole”.

Must be some shock to Tubs ego, after all the years of Noel Kelly telling him he was a once in a generation broadcasting talent, AND the “most trusted man in Ireland”

FFS !!!

Tubs surely could do an “Up with the Partridge” style 3:30 am - 5:30 am slot.

I personally would rather see the licence fee increased rather than abolished.

Direct funding in this way is the only lever the public have to control RTE. Full exchequer funding would result in an even cosier relationship with government but more importantly shift control away from the viewer.

<pedant mode> In fact the country made a token effort, John Bowe, Willie McAteer, David Drumm and Denis Casey saw the inside of jail. The big fish. however, got away, no thanks to a Mr. Kevin O’Connell, and the hunt for Fingers assets is plodding along. Though I'll give you, the boyos wearing the right school ties (AIB) got away, John Hurley (ex civil service head, & central bank) and Patrick Neary (central bank) retired on generous pensions.

Bathurst can't fire him, he just doesn't have to renew. The downside of contract work.

To be motivated to engage in those sort of protests thoughy, would people not have to be against taxpayer funding of broadcasting in any form, the way they were opposed point blank to water charges? And I would question whether many are that absolutist.

The other point is, if the government anticipates this level of opposition to a specific broadcasting charge, would they not be more likely to fund RTE through general taxation, as recommended by the Future of Media Commission?

The thing is it's not he's loved, he's essentially just been a Radio/TV face because someone has to be in an age where most people get their information elsewhere. If he never got back on air he won't be lamented.

Those who like him will like whatever face is hoisted into position, although I have a feeling Paddy Kielty may bring a genuine common connection with the public that will highlight how artificial and ungenuine Tubridy is.

I'd pay a TV license if RTE was Public Service only. Current affairs, politics, national/international sport that kind of thing. No more crap on radio, no more Love Island, Room to improve, weight loss, name your poison.

Commercial TV can do all that. We deserve far better. And if RT is reinstated I will be cancelling my license DD. I have held off for now waiting to see how RTE handles this. We shall see.

A lighter, fluffier format? Tubridy is the hydrogen gas of RTE programming. Lighter than air even when on-air.

The problem for Tubridy is that his kind of low-talent babble is available on most radio stations. The noises (PR talking point) about Tubridy taking legal action against RTE would create more problems for Tubridy and the RTE "talent" than it would for RTE.

Regards...jmcc

Okay no analogy is ever perfect but the public seem willing to swallow the direct exchequer funding model for TG4 without complaint. If there was another mechanism for funding public servicve broadcasting that would gain significantly greater public buy-in that might change the game but I'm not aware of such a mechanism.

I will add to that and add childrens TV. RTE used to have the Den, which 'hosted' the imported cartoons. Now, the little Ive seen, is just back to back imported stuff. 3.30 tomorrow on RTE 2 is Lions vs Hyenas. Described as:

"Documentary charting the fortunes of a male lion cub and a female hyena pup, each born at the same time on the African plains, as they develop into maturity". Sounds more like something your grand dad would watch, not draw young people into watch.

3.30 was when the Den started traditionally. My mum loved the Den, especially Dustin. Most of the jokes went over my head, but there are clips on YoutTube that are hilarious. If Ray Darcy wants to earn his 250k a year. I would say he'd be as well off working for 3 hours a day on the telly instead of 1 hour a day on the radio. Or better still, get someone vibrant, not boring the arse off people with stories of sour dough bread.

The Future of Media Commission may well have recommended direct funding from the Exchequer (I don't know for sure, it's 284 pages long) but I'm pretty sure that the FoMC did say that there would be a danger of 'Perceived or actual bias towards the Govt of the day*' if this were the case - and indeed, the brilliant Catherine Martin (who's desk had to be moved to the ground floor cos of the weight of reports on it) discounted DEF for this very reason

'*' like there isn't enough RTE bias towards the Govt as it stands

So, yeah - it looks like Bakhurst is a company man alright - He's had the perfect opportunity gifted to a new DG that was intent on cleaning the place up in the Ryan Tubridy scandal, but has chosen to ignore the chance to implement wholesale changes to fees/contractors and is actively trying to get the gravy train back up to full speed (with the minimum of tweaks) instead of regaining the trust of the Irish people - Shame really

I said it before, The DG position should be performance based - Decent base salary and hefty bonuses paid depending on performance/results/savings

Ultimately, Govts (past and present) are to blame imo. They well knew that large parts of West Africa were looking at RTE and thinking - "Fook me, those guys are good - makes us look like amateurs down here"

The RTE 'players' and the Govt 'players' are in the club