RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

Bertie's only chance of winning is if RT was the only other candidate.

Another chancer that thinks he was hard done by

Tubridy's exceptional treatment does pose an interesting question.

What was nature of the relationship that Noel Kelly had with Dee Forbes?

It was very unusual at the PAC, that Kelly was keen to understate the extent of his relationship with Forbes. If you were to believe him, they barely knew each other. Half strangers according to him. Why though? And why did Kelly later during PAC refuse point blank to answer the straight question of how many of his clients in total were on RTEs books? Turns out Kelly derives so much of his business from RTE that he couldn't have had any but a close relationship with Forbes.

Either way there was some strange dynamic at play between Forbes and Kelly. Bryan Stanley, during the PAC alluded to this. He questioned this strange state of affairs with his now infamous Chocolate Sales Man line of questioning of Kelly. But the line of questioning was pertinent.

How did a former Cadbury's Rep apparently bully a DG of RTE into such a mess? Notwithstanding Kelly's client-base, he should have been in no position to get these deals for his client. Were Forbes and RTE so weak and complacent that they sleepwalked into this mess?

Strange carry-on altogether.

Since the Mary Robinson success, the presidential elections have been littered by “shoe-ins” and “popular” candidates that have ultimately done atrociously at the polling booth - I think the Irish electorate when it comes to the presidential election aren't easily hoodwinked and have a very clear idea of the sort of person they want to represent them- just one wrong word or a story can see a popular candidate fall from Grace quicker than…..RT🤪

- I consider Higgins lucky because he was up against the most random collection of completely unsuitable people possible to hold presidential office that all he had to do was stay alive to win it 😀

Time for change folks….. time to wipe out the 0900-1000 slot into distant memory.

Lookit …. every bank holiday marty Morrissey in for two hours at 0900

Collins was then in for two hours

News for 30 mins then music for another two hours …..I could go on.

Change the fohhking record…. Something different please ….

Would nt agree there Ozzie, had a good innings , became ‘music by numbers’ and repetitive.

I respect your opinion though.

"He and Duffy in a head-to-head battle for the Áras, can’t wait!"

Dragons last time, snakes next time.

President no, but if he's still after a good pay day, he'd have a good chance at being elected as a TD. His sanctimonious, faux be kind schtick will appeal to many a gobshite. Plus, he also has the family connections for a run in politics.

Perhaps but he won't find public adoration on Virgin or Newstalk.

'Is there no way back' seems to be his one & only ploy. If RTE/Bakhurst have any sense at all, they'll keep the door politely but firmly shut.

Ah I miss him- early morning radio back in the early 80s for me growing up was Ronan Collins Fr Brian Darcys 7.15am slot and sometimes the occasional but incredibly funny Eugene Lambert with his puppet being rude😀- ah good innocent times .

Yeah but look at some of the numpties that have achieved council nominations in the past and have got onto the ballot; NONE of them were worthy of the office - I guess that’s why voting in such elections is so important to prevent such eigits from getting past the post- the political parties must also share collective responsibility in putting forward appropriate candidates reducing the chances of it becoming some sort of Im a celebrity voting thing.

I'd find it hard to believe that was some over-arching strategy of his Oscar. He's not at that level where of some master strategist playing Chess while everyone else plays Chequers. That would require him to play a long game he just hasn't got.

It's been all about the short game with Tubridy and Kelly. They don't seem to play the clock forward on their actions. At least not in this crisis, from what I've seen.

Perhaps Tubridy has some fantasy in his head about the Presidency, perhaps fancies himself as JFK. Sure we all thought we were ninjas after watching The Karate Kid, as kids. Maybe Tubridy has delusions after writing his JFK book.

Either way, he's more of a chance of getting shite out of a rocking horse.

Upon hearing of Bakhursts decision to bring Tubridy back, my initial reaction was, "ah here we go again. 'meet the new boss, same as the old boss' ". But to be fair to him he had a delicate balancing act to perform in his attempt to keep all invested parties happy.. the licensce fee payers, the divided RTE staff, Tubridys dedicated listnership (all 4 of them) and even Tubridy himself. It was an impossible task. There was always going to be at least one disgruntled party. It was a brave attempt and he was inevitably going to receive flak regardless of what decision he made.

Tubridys leaking of private conversations between himself and KB might have been forgivable but the release of the Wednesday evenings statement after the GT report (before running it past his employer while in the final stages of a new contract negotiation) was the the final straw. Tubridys lack of humility and awareness of knowing when you're onto a winner is breathtaking!

Despite Bakhursts rocky start.. going on his holliers in the first few weeks of a prominent position.. I have renewed faith in his abilities to clean up RTE.

Now if he can deliver on his vow to downsize the payments to the 'talent' (are you listening Mr. Duffy, Darcy et all?) .. there might just be some hope for the role of PBS in Ireland.

This mainly.

It seemed to imply that he did not owe RTÉ the money and also that all of the mistakes made were theirs. He was owning nothing. Also he was not helping to end the scandal.

From here https://www.breakingnews.ie/ireland/tubridy-did-not-want-to-cause-difficulty-for-rte-with-statement-sources-say-1516579.html