RTÉ admits paying Tubridy €345,000 more than declared

It seems NK is PK agent and friend, part of the interview with Neimh Horan below....

"NH: What about Noel Kelly?

PK: He’s a friend as well as agent.

NH: How often do you talk?

PK: When there is business to be done. I would have the odd lunch with him to bring me up to speed.

NH: A lot of people have spoken about his negotiating style. What’s it like?

PK: I don’t see him in action, but I suspect he is tough. Because he doesn’t have to be liked. And he will say that — he’ll be as tough as he has to be.

In my time in RTÉ, you’d go in and try to make a case for yourself and you’d be put down. They would tell me “you’re always replaceable”. That attitude prevailed among some management. So that’s why we need an agent. And also, you don’t have to blow your own trumpet. It sounds immodest and bumptious if you go in saying: “I’m terrific.” You can’t do it.

So when people ask, “Why do you have an agent?” — that’s why.

There was a famous senior executive in RTÉ who remarked about Gerry Ryan, when Gerry was looking for a better contract, that he could go over to UCD, across the road in Belfield, to the L&H Society and pick up “half-a-dozen Gerry Ryans”.

Then Gerry Ryan died tragically — and they can’t replace Gerry Ryan.

______

PK: He has somehow got to resolve everything with RTÉ — whether that is in the High Court or behind closed doors in Montrose. I don’t think he can truly move on until that is resolved.

NH: Is there a possibility he will sue?

PK: You need big money to sue. And it’s a risky business because, initially, the barristers will tell you you’ve got a 99pc chance of winning. Then as the case looms closer, it becomes 70pc, then 50pc and then “it depends on the judge”.

NH: Who would have more to lose in court, RTÉ or Ryan?

PK: RTÉ would die rather than go to court. Because we have probably only seen the tip of the iceberg. There are other issues. All the contracted people that should have been on staff. There are the severance packages for highly paid executives. You bring all that out in the wash in the High Court, and whatever about lost licence fee revenue now, you can multiply that.

NH: Would you go in the box for him [Tubridy]?

PK: If I was asked by any party, I would go into the box and tell the truth. Whatever I was asked by either side, I would tell it as I saw it."

What PK highlighted in that interview is that either way big salaries funded by the tv license are unsustainable.

It was an rte theme during the Bertie bubble that public sector wages should match private sector, PK seems unaware he was part of that "me-too" culture

We could start a "Tubs is great/Tubs is doing Xxx" article watch for the Indo.

Highlight the days when he ISNT actually mentioned in the paper.

According to RTÉ at the time it was to do with contract negotiations, but as they only happen every five years, that doesn't ring true, but Backhurst will publish them in line with the annual report each year from now on.

He did indeed do school around the corner- and I’d say if Ryan had continued in RTÉ that’s exactly the TV show he would have ended up doing - you’re spot on.

One interesting thing in the PK interview is that he says the RTE executives also get bonuses which hasn’t been mentioned to date. He also says that RTE would do anything to stop all this ending up in court because what has come out to date is only the tip of the iceberg and they would be truly finished if the rest of it came out. He said something similar on the radio a while ago…” the stories I could tell about RTE”.

A lot more that people are keeping quiet about. No Irish paper will delve, we need the Sunday Times or the Daily Mail to do a number, the way the ST did with the FAI.

Just on the daily puff pieces blowing smoke up the toymans hole, stop clicking on them and stop sharing them if you want them to go away. It's not necessarily a pro RT agenda that's getting them published, it's clicks and advertising.

While he didn't set the world alight on the LLS, I have a lot of time for PK. He's informed, interested, prepared and researched and is probably the best current affairs tv or radio presenter in Ireland, still.

But his spiel today in the Indo is just that. A spiel. Yet another attempt to reanimate the corpse of Ryan Tubridy.

I wouldn't read much into it vis a vis a move to Newstalk for Tubridy. Certainly not to take over any role covering current affairs. The idea that he could do that 9am slot on Newstalk is laughable. Akin to my GP retiring and handing over to my plumber.

I'd imagine it's got a lot more to do with Kenny having beef with RTE and Bakhurst himself over the the manner of his own leaving the station and the fact that Tubridy is, as has been said, "in the big club" and if you shít on him, you shít on all of us kind of thing. TBH, it's probably nothing more complex than Noelly giving him a bell and telling him to blow Tubs up on the Indo this weekend.