Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

Tubridy and Kelly were under no obligation to appear before the Oireachtas Committee re. The Ryan Tubridy Pay Scandal - they chose to do so - something I would have strongly advised sagainst btw had my counsel been sought on the matter. They chose to take the advice of a different advisor however, much to their ultimate cost.

They chose to go primarily in an attempt to frame a narrative that The Toyman was a simple man who didn’t understand things like money and mathematics, and that he was the real victim in the scandal that bears his name. This was after of course he and his agent issued “nothing to do with me” statements after the scandal broke which only added to the public outrage, and which they swiftly backtracked on and changed their tune to a more admission of collective blame and their smart in it when they saw how those statements landed.

They presented a “we were just following orders” defence laying the blame entirely at the door of RTÉ, acting as if they had no hand, act of part in it, when the reality is they were willing partners to and participants in it - Kelly’s secondary company’s invoicing is testament to this. Who exactly conceived the creative accounting plan we’ll likely never know but logic would dictate it was likely one of or a combination of Kelly, Forbes, and possibly Geraldine O’Leary. Whoever conjured the idea is largely immaterial however as it couldn’t have happened without both sides knowing what was going on and for that there would have to have been discussions as to the mechanics of the scheme - and ultimately, agreement.

Kelly claimed at the hearing he had “never even met Dee Forbes for a cup of tea” nor did he have her number. Considering I would estimate that 90% of his billings came from RTÉ it would frankly be bizarre and stretch all credibility that he did not know Forbes professionally.

But back to the hearing: The Toyman presented 7 “untruths” as he described them, theatrically banging on the table in his delivery of same. Fionnan Sheehan (the journalist who broke the story) subsequently dismantled almost all of these in his column and on numerous podcasts but let’s not let facts ruin a good tale shall we?

The Toyman and the Godfather then attempted to curry favour with some delicious quotes that will live for a long time in discussions of the scandal; Kelly describing The Toyman as “the most trusted man in Ireland” , The Toyman’s “yes, my salary is enormous but it doesn’t affect my soul”, and The Toyman’s “I love your county” (in reference to Louth of all places) were amongst the highlights.

They also used the old tactic of submitting a very large dossier of documents shortly before the hearings were due to commence. This would politely be described as “sneaky” by some but I won’t comment on it.

The Toyman’s performance at the hearing did him no favours, but he didn’t have to be there. Like this whole sorry affair, it’s his own fault for partaking in it.

I read his London Diary earlier. Why it’s still called the London Diary is a mystery as it’s rarely about London, but anyway. Intriguingly as the country’s leading book reader and book podcaster, it’s rather strange he didn’t mention the most-talked about book release of the week….Shane Ross’s book about RTÉ. Pat Kenny had Ross on his show this morning I see (I didn’t catch it but might listen later in the week).

He did tell us about the Michael Jackson movie though. The Toyman complained he was conflicted on whether or not to watch it, so he held an Instagram poll on same. I’m not on Instagram but it does seem the man overuses it (anything to keep your name out there I suppose…..).

Anyway on Jacko, he said he’d never play him again when he was on RTE, but had no problem playing him on Q102/Virgin, now seems to be having a crisis of confidence on the subject again. As usual with The Toyman it seems he’s waiting to see what way the wind is blowing before deciding which opinion is “correct”. He seems genuinely incapable of thinking for himself.

LOL

Your posting history suggests your interest in both subjects is more than “passing”.

I personally believe that had the dodgy payments scheme not been “rumbled” so to speak, that The Toyman would still be presenting TLLS in addition to his radio show. It is my firm opinion the resignation was submitted in an attempt to bury the story internally.

For clarity, The Toyman’s announcement that he was leaving TLLS came over St. Patrick’s Weekend in March (not April), 9 days after the payments were discovered in an internal audit.

Those payments (totalling €345,000 btw, not the oft referred to figure of €150,000) were not made public until June, some 3 months later, by which time one central party to them had resigned from her position after being suspended - facts that were not made public until later as the story developed.

They could give it to anyone really. A show built up by Gay Byrne. Plenty of talented people out there able to present could continued to drive the audience down much like that of Tubs who lost nearly 100K within 3 years of taking over the show.

They should bring back Pat Kenny really he held his audience for all of the seasons he was on, the 150K if not more that Tubs lost by the end of his term should have been dealt with about a decade ago.

The new PK has largely maintained what was left of the audience.

Cannot see RT coming back ever TBH, it would be like bring back Moya Doherty and D4bes, you'd be more successful trying to raise Gay Byrne from the dead than figuring out what illness struck D4bes.

Between using an AI representation of Gay Byrne and bringing back Tubridy… it's a tough call which would be quicker way to send TLLS to cancellation.