RTÉ’s new director-general has said he will contact star presenter Ryan Tubridy within the next week to discuss his future with the national broadcaster, reports Breaking News.
Kevin Bakhurst said he wanted to treat Mr Tubridy fairly but indicated that he would not speak personally to his agent Noel Kelly.
Former Late Late Show host Tubridy has been off air from his weekday radio show since a payments scandal broke at RTÉ last month and his future at the broadcaster remains in serious doubt.
RTÉ has been engulfed in controversy since it admitted it had underdeclared Mr Tubridy’s earnings by €345,000 from 2017 to 2022.
The figure includes three €75,000 annual payments received by Mr Tubridy for proposed public appearances for Renault, as part of a tripartite agreement involving the sponsor, RTÉ and the presenter.
The most controversial aspect of the deal was RTÉ’s decision to underwrite the payments, which effectively resulted in the publicly funded broadcaster covering the costs, reports Breaking News.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Mr Bakhurst, who took up his role with the broadcaster on Monday, said he would not personally speak with Mr Kelly.
He said: “So these are the kinds of decisions you are never going to get 100% support for, but in the end I’ve got to make the right, fair and correct decision, I think, for audiences, for RTÉ and for Ryan, and I want to treat Ryan fairly. And I think, in the end, all I can do is make the decision and explain the basis we take that on,” reports Breaking News.
He added: “I think there’s a lot of factors here. Ryan is an immensely talented broadcaster and clearly much loved by huge parts of the audience. I’ve got to judge a number of things here. One is the events of the past few weeks and the events of the last few days. But also, as I said, I want to talk to staff and I’ve already started doing that, and people who work in radio, and have worked with Ryan and other people who work in radio, and the leadership team,” reports Breaking News.
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