Noel Kelly and Tubridy submit data request

It truly is a relative statement.

Yeah, we're all charismatic, articulate geniuses on here who would easily perform in front of cameras, lights and live audiences, on national TV. And do it all for <€50k and a packet of crisps.

There are lots of things most of us can't do. I can't service a boiler, give a decent haircut, make a pair of jeans, install an electric shower or fix the throttle cable on my lawnmower. How many of the people who can do these things are considered talented? And how many do you think should be paid multiples of your salary?

The people who get in front of the camera are not special exalted beings, chosen by the gods of celebrity because they are talented. They just found a job. Some of them are good at it and some of them aren't.

I don't even know why I'm expressing an opinion. I haven't had a TV license in over 20 years.

”was”? He’s still with us!

I think think his stable of talent would likely leave him if he starts to dictate where they work. They don't work for him, he works for them.

Build up the brand of the toy show? More like absolutely ruined the toy show and made it all about his own brand... The Toyman.

I remember the toyshow being a massive deal for us in the 80s. We were allowed to stay up late to watch it, there were treats and a general air of festivity. In school the following Monday the only topic of conversation was the toys. This was in the depths of the recession, when plenty of people got a book, a toy and a new jumper for Christmas and that was that. If you got a selection box too you were doing very well. None of us were ever going to get anything we had seen on the Toyshow for Christmas but we could dream…

I remember Gay Byrne and Frank McNamara messing around with water guns - the anarchy! I simultaneously loathed and envied the Billy Barry Kids - in fact, all the lucky children who got to present a toy. The technology on display was, to our young minds, indistinguishable from magic. Some of my memories are probably from the early 90s, still long before Tubs started aping the American late night shows while interviewing RTE D-list slebs.

It's true that Kenny wasn't exactly a natural at the Toyshow, and perhaps some of the steam went out of it during his tenure but it's not true that it wasn't a big deal before Tubridy took the reins.

Tubridy ruined the Toy Show, not made it.

He tried to turn it into a production in which HE was the star. The toys and the kids were just a necessary inconvenience to him.

I don't think wrongful dismissal is on the cards. Didn't he announce he was leaving himself earlier that year and wasn't he on an annual contract? Not sure of the details.

Reputational damage might be the angle they are going for but either way he is getting very badly advised if he thinks this might be the way back onto our screens. RTE is a shambles and the money being squandered there annually is beyong crazy. This organisation are both state sponsored and sponsored by a mandated fee on every house in the state - and they are pi$$ing money away like it is confetti. If anything the state broadcaster should have a salary cap and it should be used as a "training ground" for those that wish to learn whatever trade they are in so they can go make the higher money elsewhere. Paying the likes of Tubridy, Joe et all the hundreds of thousands per year for part time jobs is ridiculous in the environment they are in.

The Toyshow was about Turbridy. Nothing else. He thought he was the John Lewis Christmas ad, it had to be bigger and more emotional every year to satisfy his ego. Announcing to kids who lived in hotels with all the sincerity of a wet fart that 'Santy' would find them. Box ticked. All the RTE execs nodding and clapping. ffs.

Gay Byrne owned the toyshop. simple as that.