It is untenable to have Ryan Tubridy presenting his weekday radio show while coverage of undeclared payments to him continues, RTE’s interim deputy director general has said.
Answering questions from the Oireachtas Media Committee about undisclosed payments to RTE’s star presenter, Adrian Lynch said the decision was an editorial one and rested with him as the acting editor-in-chief.
He said that Mr Tubridy is still “in contract” and is still being paid, while not appearing on his weekday Radio One show between 9am-10am.
Fianna Fail TD Cathal Crowe asked what had to happen for Mr Tubridy, who is RTE’s highest earner, to return to the airwaves.
"How did you allow one man and his agent become bigger than RTÉ?"My opening questions to the RTÉ board at the Oireachtas Media Committee. pic.twitter.com/e63f2Ygd9y
— Shane Cassells (@ShaneCassells) June 28, 2023
“At the moment it is not tenable for him to be on air for editorial reasons,” Mr Lynch said.
“The editorial reason is, we wouldn’t give our airwaves to anyone who is involved in a controversy, that just wouldn’t happen.”
When Mr Crowe asked if he was inferring that Mr Tubridy had done something wrong, Mr Lynch replied that Mr Tubridy had entered “a lawful contract” with RTE.
“This is not an editorial issue, this is a significant failure in terms of controls.”
When asked by Sinn Fein TD John Brady about Mr Tubridy’s exact contractual position, Mr Lynch said the presenter is “currently in contract”.
“The contract that he was on in terms of providing TV services as well as radio, finished on May 31, and there was a process to renegotiate the radio-only contract, which at the moment is suspended.”
He confirmed that Mr Tubridy is still being paid while off air.
Asked by Senator Shane Cassells whether Ryan Tubridy would return to RTE Radio, Mr Lynch said: “At the moment, obviously, for editorial reasons, it’s impossible for Ryan Tubridy (to be) back on air.”
Asked if he would be back on air in the long term, Mr Lynch added: “Again, I would just say for editorial reasons, he is not on air at the moment.”
Mr Lynch also said he did not believe the discovery of the payments by the auditors was related to Mr Tubridy’s decision to announce his decision in March to step aside from RTE’s flagship programme The Late Late Show.
“From what I can see in terms of the timeline, there is no relationship between these payments and the decision to step down from the Late Late Show,” he told the committee.
