RTÉ Director General Kevin Buckhurst says he stands by his decision to end talks with Ryan Tubridy about returning to his Radio 1 show, reports RTE.
Mr Tubridy has been off the air since June 22, when the controversy surrounding his underpayment by RTÉ was first revealed by RTÉ management.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, Mr Bakhurst described Tubridy as a “hugely talented broadcaster”, but said he “knew well from talking to staff in RTÉ that opinions [on his return] were strongly divided”, reports RTE.
He said: “There was issue throughout about the need to accept your role in what has been a hugely damaging scandal for everybody involved. For RTÉ, who need to take the vast majority of the blame, but there are others, including Ryan and his team, who should take some of the blame and take some responsibility,” reports RTE.
He added: “Everyone has got to accept those reports in full and not in part and not try and spin their own narratives and those reports and the board restatement of what Ryan received in pay for those two years in 2020 and 2021. We’ve got to move on from this now, we’ve got a version that fairly reflects overall why he was paid in lieu of those years and to start to question that is counterproductive and we can’t be going around in circles arguing about this. We’ve got to have integrity to own our mistakes,” reports RTE.
Mr Bakhurst said Mr Tubridy was still being paid as it was RTÉ’s decision to remove him from the plane, adding that “we need to sort this out now, this is the next step”.
In an email to staff last night, Bakhurst said talks with Tubridy were entered into in good faith “in the hopes of reaching an agreement that would see Ryan return to his RTÉ Radio 1 show”.
Mr Bakhurst said: “I have decided not to continue with negotiations and, as such, there are no plans for Ryan to return to his presenting role with RTÉ at this time. Despite having agreed some of the fundamentals, including fee, duration and hours, regretfully, it is my view that trust between the parties has broken down. Public statements made without consultation appear to question the basis for the necessary restatement of fees paid for services for 2020 and 2021,” reports RTE.
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