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

Hope they remember to mention legal advice before actually swapping..

Was being sarcastic, she's on this weeks cover!

Way back when D4bes was DG she appoint Frances Abeton to the role of Director of Operations and Production Services. She subsequently left the role after just over a year in the role. Later, she was involved in some real estate venture that went south (though this doesn't see to be why she left RTÉ…. did she get a redundancy package?).

CTO, Richard Waghorn took over that directorship, his title has change many times, but the are now looking for a new person to take over the role.

Tut tut Pether, you forgot a most important competency- be able to blag your way into areas you haven’t paid for based on the little ‘mentch’ on the stations airwaves weeks or months ago.

Despite his claims that everything is awesome, that the scandal was best thing to ever happen to him, that he’s free from the constraints of RTÉ now, that he’s his own boss and free to do whatever he wants etc. it seems that the two central figures on one side of The Ryan Tubridy Pay Scandal just can’t let it go.

I’ve said this before, but the longer they keep doing this the longer ot stays top of mind for people - someone should explain The Streisand Effect to The Toyman. It also decreases any chance of any return to RTÉ which despite the protestations appears to be an aim.

Should this eventually go legal (and the only logical reason that would be would be for a financial claim) it would further sully the already tarnished reputation of “the most trusted man in Ireland”.

We know from The Toyman’s own admissions at the Oireachtas Committee that he’s just a simple man and doesn’t understand complicated matters but someone really should have a word here and prevent further damage.

Can’t wait though for the London Diary tomorrow where The Toyman is going to reveal more details about how he’s going to be donating some of the free books publishers send him to a charity shop or bookshop in Dublin! Ryan has been pushing this all week on Instagram with the gusto of the self-promotional efforts he used to engaged in in advance of The Toy Show. Most people don’t need to publicise their charitable efforts….but not The Toyman!

If you’re in the market for an unread copy of a book though you might pick up a bargain. You’ll likely have to have a selfie taken with a man who used to avoid them like the plague but now is desperate for them however as The Toyman promises to linger while the books are sold - some might say that’s too high a price. How the mighty have fallen.

I’m sure you’ll be equally demanding of transparency from The Toyman and Mr. Kelly…..

I won’t hold my breath on that one.

As you were very fond of saying yourself there for about a week - “lol”.

Do you even know what’s being requested? I suspect you do, and that it’s opinion-based.

“Under data protection laws, there is a specific exemption for confidential expressions of opinion. If an opinion about the requesting individual was given in confidence, or on the understanding it would remain confidential, an organization may not have to disclose that specific opinion to the person.””

The advice of RTÉ’s external solicitors are that these meet the above criteria. Are you seriously suggesting RTÉ should ignore the advice of their own legal advisors?

I’m sorry the explanations provided as to why this information doesn’t need to be provided appears to be too complicated for you to understand. 🤷‍♂️

Or do you believe everything said in private should be available to the public?

More delicious tales from The Toyman this week in his London Diary and elsewhere - complete with pointing pics! I’d love to say these are bonus pointing pics but alas no, they’re in constant rotation, with evoke.ie being particularly fond of the one above - taken as The Toyman was on his way to Joe Duffy’s retirement drinks do at which Jim Jennings made an appearance despite his ill health.

In this week’s London Diary The Toyman once again tells us about Les Miserables. I’m feeling a bit miserables myself after hearing the same story told for the umpteenth time but it is hard to think of a few hundred words for the column every week I suppose…..

Anyway in this week’s London Diary The Toyman engages in some trademark name dropping and tells us all about his free tickets to the musical in both London and Dublin - old habits do indeed (like the title of a Bruce Willis movie) “die hard”.

The Toyman intriguingly describes his time in London as “When I lived in London for two years”, ignoring the fact that he’s there today broadcasting in 3rd month or so of a new radio show that despite looking for I can’t find a single review of online. It’s almost as if the show and the host are completely off radar for reviewers Intriguing.

Evoke’s obsession with all things Toyman/NKM didn’t end there, we also get a bonus Toyman feature, this time a “review” (lol) of another Bookshelf Live podcast which is a press release praising the Galway show and promoting the Dublin show. Needless to say, The Toyman had the last laugh. Toymantasticness a go go!

Not to be outdone by Evoke in publishing press releases The Journal wrote on matters RTÉ, that The Toyman also has some things to say about media consumption and of course, The Late Late Show, complete with another pointing pic.

It’s the standard boilerplate by numbers Toyman article in that it tells us how amazing he’s doing, and promotes the upcoming Gaeity Bookshelf live gig - tickets are still available btw. Fellow NKM star Baz will join The Toyman for some top notch bants too.

It’s intriguing that the man who was at the helm of the dumbing down of TLLS with its Country Music specials, GAA specials, Valentine’s Day specials etc now backs the incumbent to make it more serious. If only he had a voice when he was the host…..🤷‍♂️

The article/press release is the usual propaganda but the comments section has some delicious ripostes if one was interested in such things.

It’s hard to invest in the technology required to bring the player up to modern standards when RTÉ have to pay the top talent so much to keep the BBC, ITV, NBC, etc from poaching them. And that’s before the executives, management, and staff get paid. Or junkets.

We might get a previous favourite excuse from RTÉ though that the content is available on other platforms too……🤷‍♂️