“The jury is still out,” said a senior RTÉ journalist after Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly had finished their appearance before two Oireachtas committees. “We are talking to each other, asking ‘what do you think?’ and we’re really not sure,” the reporter said.
The new director general of RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst, said on Monday he plans to make a decision soon about Tubridy’s future at RTÉ, that what happened before the committees would be an important aspect of his decision-making process, and that he would also be taking into consideration the feelings of staff.
“People like [Tubridy], he’s a decent guy, there is no malice against him, but people resent the fact that he is able to go in with a heavyweight like Kelly and extort gargantuan sums,” said the reporter.
“I think the jury is out on it. Staff will work with him if he comes back, but it will be a bit awkward ... If he doesn’t get back in, people will understand why. Because at the moment there is a question mark over his credibility, there really is.”
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The reporter didn’t think it was a good day for Bakhurst either, because the testimony from Tubridy and Kelly raised questions for members of Bakhurst’s executive team, but also because RTÉ’s press office issued a statement on Tuesday morning taking issue with material given to the Public Accounts Committee by the two witnesses.
“Was Bakhurst in on that? You thought the adult was back in the room. Who decided to send that one out, when they hadn’t even gone in before the committee?”
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Another senior reporter had a negative view of Tubridy’s performance. “It didn’t lance the boil,” the reporter said. “I just felt really angry. From the point of view of people who work in RTÉ, I would say he is not welcome back.”
“High salaries were always a festering sore for people in RTÉ, but now it has burst into the open and everyone is really upset, everyone is really angry, and I know he knows nothing else [other than working for RTÉ], I am sure it is a horrific wrench for him, but I don’t know how he can [return to work].”
“It was very difficult for him to pretend that he was just one of us when he was on so much money but he kind of managed it, and everybody just turned a blind eye to it. He is a nice guy, but now the grubby workings of how he gets his money [have been disclosed],” the reporter said.
A former senior editorial executive with RTÉ said he believed Tubridy had performed well and that as a result it would be more difficult for Bakhurst to tell him that he can’t return to RTÉ.
“He came in with all guns blazing, but he had to. I think he has gone a long way towards saving his career,” the former executive said.
A retired commercial executive with the station said he believed it would be a terrible shame if Tubridy was not allowed to return to work at national broadcaster.
“He faltered a little bit every so often, because it is wearisome [appearing before committees]. On the stuff he was passionate about, he was passionate about, and that is winning. That is where I thought he came across best.”
