As it happened: Eamon Ryan expects Kevin Bakhurst to respond to Ryan Tubridy claims at Thursday’s PAC hearing

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What happens next?

• Sporting bodies and media firms, including RTÉ, will appear before the Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media at 1pm to discuss the future of sports broadcasting, and the controversy around streaming service GAAGO. Public session will begin at 1.30pm and you can watch the proceedings on a live stream here.
• In an interview published today, RTÉ's new director general, Kevin Bakhurst, did not rule out the broadcaster selling its Montrose base, as well as confirming the Toy Show the Musical will be scrapped
• There is also likely to be further fallout from the appearance yesterday by Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly before two Oireachtas committees where they accused RTÉ of giving false and misleading accounts of the presenter’s remuneration
• On Thursday, RTÉ executives will face fresh questions when they come to the Public Accounts Committee, after documents given to the committees on Tuesday contradicted aspects of the evidence already given by RTÉ

Best reads

• Miriam Lord: Won’t someone please think of the children, and let Ryan Tubridy back on the air?
• Analysis: Ten things we’ve learned from Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly
• Fintan O’Toole: In the end, Ryan Tubridy resorted to the Father Ted defence
• Analysis: Do Ryan Tubridy’s seven RTÉ ‘untruths’ stand up to scrutiny?
• As it happened: Our live reporting of Tubridy and Kelly before the Oireachtas committees on Tuesday
• TV Review: It started as Tubsgate but became a Bizarre Tubs Triangle

Meanwhile, Harry McGee reports:

Green Party leader Eamon Ryan has described Ryan Tubridy as having a proud record and being a “successful and capable broadcaster”.

He said people should not forget those qualities in the course of the public debate around the additional payments.

Responding to the appearance of Mr Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly before two Oireachtas committees on Tuesday, the Minister for Communications said he saw only a small portion of the evidence as he was in a Cabinet meeting for most of the morning and the afternoon.

He said he presumed RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst would have a chance to respond to the evidence given by Tubridy and Mr Kelly.

Both claimed in evidence that the secrecy, under-declaration of Tubridy’s salary, and the convoluted methods used to pay €150,000 to the broadcaster all derived from RTÉ and not from Tubridy’s side.

While the Minister was not in a position to address specific points, he said that critical decisions would be made about RTÉ in the autumn, including its future funding model.

“We need to be careful that we don’t undermine the strength that good journalism and good broadcasting can bring to this country,” he said, speaking in Government Buildings as a long-term hydrogen strategy was announced.

He accepted there were failings in RTÉ but he also argued that it had strengths as well and they could not be ignored.

“Let’s not throw the baby out with the bathwater,” he said.

Asked specifically about Tubridy, he said: “He also has a proud record, he is a successful and capable broadcaster we should not forget that.”

Asked about the secret nature of some of the transactions, he said there was not correct transparency. “For an organisation that is trying to gain transparency for (the public) that is particularly damaging.”

Mary Ellen Ní Chualainn of TG4 said the station still “lags far behind other European minority language broadcasters in terms of funding and scale.

“In the short term, TG4 needs to be functioning at least at the level of S4C in Wales in terms of resources and funding. "

It is now time for the second half of the meeting, in which RTÉ will be present. The broadcaster’s head of sport, Declan McBennett, said in his opening statement that the organisation has never broadcast as much free to air sport.

“More GAA than ever, more soccer than ever, more rugby than ever, more Olympic sport than ever and more women’s sport than ever,” he said.

“In the age in which we live it is neither realistic nor feasible that all sport can be or will be free to air. The growth of OTT services or streaming is a reality in global sport. Ireland, however small, cannot escape this reality and Covid changed the landscape with regard to streaming. Every county and every code adapted to this new reality.”

Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin, from Kerry, asked GAA representatives to consider a county quota for free-to-air broadcasts. Mr Griffin cited his sense of disappointment that young children couldn’t see a particularly skillful pass from Kerry’s David Clifford in a match against Tyrone.

In response, director general Tom Ryan said the GAA doesn’t operate a county quota at the moment, and that he wasn’t sure how “practical” such a system would be.

Peter McKenna, chief commercial officer at the GAA, said the organisation broadcasts over 300 games across GAAGo and free-to-air, whereas that figure was 170 in previous contracts.

He said only 50 of those were behind a paywall, whereas 52 were in the last broadcast contract.

Eir Sport used to put National League matches behind a paywall, Mr McKenna said, whereas these are now on RTÉ and TG4. The total percentage of paywall matches is 16 to 17 per cent he said, with that figure previously being up at 30 per cent.

Director general Tom Ryan said the most popular matches on GAAGo attract an audience of in excess of 120,000 people, with the smallest audiences coming in at between 1,000 and 1,500 subscribers.

Mr Ryan said broadcast money represents 20 per cent of the GAA’s revenue. Asked what percentage of that comes from GAAGo, he said between 10 and15 per cent.

Senator Shane Cassells noted that is a “significant” proportion of the broadcast money coming from GAAGo.

Nathan Johns reports:

Following an earlier statement from director general Tom Ryan that all other broadcasters were approached at the end of the Sky deal and expansion of GAAGo, Imelda Munster asked if Virgin Media were contacted as, according to her, they said they were never approached.

Peter McKenna, chief commercial officer of the GAA, said: “Virgin Media were contacted on several occasions. Virgin media preferred a ready to go option, they wouldn’t do the production that was required.”

GAA director general Tom Ryan has acknowledged the cost of €12 per match streamed on GAAGo may be too high a price for some customers.

In response to questions from Peter Fitzpatrick, who said €12 a match was too high “particularly for old people”, Mr Ryan said he “noted” the feedback. “We’ll be looking at our pricing again going forward.”

Mr Fitzpatrick said he thought the annual cost of €79 for all matches was “good value.”

Unsurprisingly, the GAAGo issue continues to dominate discussion, with GAA director general Tom Ryan being told of a number of individuals who could not watch a Cork hurling match due to being unable to stream.

“I’m not deaf to any of those issues. The feedback the members of the Oireachtas were getting, we were getting that too,” he said.

“When there are limitations in capacity, there are choices that have to be made. It really is a question of GAAGo is showing more games than we were ever able to broadcast before, free-to-air has more games that are broadcasted but I don’t think we will ever get to the situation where every game is broadcast.”

Tom Ryan said the “specific purpose” of GAAGo when it was first created in 2014 was to reach the diaspora. However, the Covid pandemic changed that.

“We kind of tore up the broadcasting model. We morphed from an overseas and international provider to a domestic market,” he said.

Asked how much of GAAGo’s income is derived from domestic viewers versus international, Mr Ryan said he did not have that information, but he believes the domestic impact is greater. The body will accrue around €4 million annually from GAAGo.

GAA’s director general Tom Ryan said the organisation did approach other broadcasters when the contract with Sky ended, in a process that lasted for around a year.

“We approached every broadcaster. Everybody had the option,” he said.

Sinn Féin’s Chris Andrews asked Mr Ryan if he believes RTÉ's involvement in GAAGo, which it co-owns, is in conflict with its remit as a public service broadcasters, asking can it “serve two masters?”

“I don’t have any particular expertise in RTÉ's public service obligations,” Mr Ryan said. “Our GAAGo perspective is from the GAA and we do our best to ensure the interests of the GAA are best served in that venture.”

GAA director Tom Ryan said the games being aired on GAAGo would previously have been shown on either Sky TV or “probably not shown at all”.

“GAAGO has existed and flourished for eight years. The new arrangements and schedule were launched six months before a ball was even pucked. But a date change for one game that was beyond our control, the fantastic match that followed, and some unfortunate commentary around coverage set us on a difficult trajectory for the summer,” he said.

“It is great that people want to see our matches, and the hurling and football this summer have been remarkable. But the expectation that every single game should be on television is just not realistic. It’s not in our interest, and not in our plans.”

Mary O’Connor, chief executive of the Federation of Irish Sport, has called for a magazine programme on free-to-air television to benefit “niche” sports.

“The federation believes that is there is a significant opportunity for niche and emerging sports to have their sports competitions (national and international) available to a larger and more diverse audience through public service broadcasting via television,” she said.

“Currently Ireland has world and European champions in the sports of boxing, rowing, kickboxing, gymnastics to name but a few, however coverage of these sports is largely dependent on success at international level.

“The federation appreciates that public service broadcasting is facing severe challenges due to changes in technology, consumer behaviour and business models, however, we believe that the creation of a magazine type programme like Sports Stadium or Sports Saturday in the past could be replicated today by engaging with sports who themselves have engaged private providers to stream and/or record NGB national events or international events where elite athletes are competing.

“We believe a magazine type programme would provide the opportunity for new intergenerational and not traditional audiences to become engaged in new sports and so increase awareness, stimulate interest in participating in the sport and simultaneously grow membership numbers and facilitate sports to generate revenue through membership, event sponsorship and commercial endorsement.”

Nathan Johns is covering the Oireachtas committee on the future of sports broadcasting. He reports:

Paul McDermott, director of high performance of Sport Ireland, kicked off the committee on sports broadcasting by acknowledging the importance of balancing streaming with free-to-air coverage.

“When developing a strategic plan, it’s important to consider more than just broadcasting major events on television,” he said. “It’s also a chance to highlight a variety of sports through various formats and mediums while promoting coverage of activities that align with policies aimed at promoting a more active population.

“Innovation is already influencing how sport is broadcast and consumed. The League of Ireland, United Rugby Championship and GAA Championship all offer paid streaming services for matches. Sport Ireland supports over 60 National Governing Bodies and we would hope that this innovation would be able to bring greater variety to the type of sports covered.

He added: “There has been discussion in the media around accessibility to streaming platforms. Sport Ireland is not a regulator, as a development agency we recognise the autonomy of our national governing bodies. We acknowledge that as rights holders, they can enter into commercial agreements that they believe are in the best interest of developing their sport.”

Meanwhile, Jack Horgan-Jones reports that former RTÉ chair Moya Doherty has indicated she will not appear before the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday.

Ms Doherty has previously gone to both PAC and the joint Oireachtas committee on the media as they investigate the controversy into undisclosed payments by RTÉ to star presenter Ryan Tubridy.

In a letter sent to PAC on Wednesday morning, Ms Doherty indicated that she is “regrettably” not in a position to attend tomorrow’s meeting.

Breda O’Keeffe, the former Chief Financial Officer of RTÉ, has also indicated she will not attend tomorrow’s meeting of PAC.

Ms O’Keeffe appeared before the media committee last week, but yesterday an email disclosed by Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly appeared to contradict evidence she and other current or former RTÉ executives had given about the broadcaster’s attitude to underwriting the deal between Renault and Mr Tubridy.

In a note sent to PAC late on Monday evening, she said she attended the other committee because she was “surprised at certain responses given by RTÉ to the Committees” on her role in “the Ryan Tubridy matter”.

She said that she had been obliged to take time off work and spend considerable time preparing for last week’s engagement, and she said she is currently engaging with Grant Thornton in their review of RTÉ top talent presenter earnings, which is also impacting her other commitments.

“I therefore respectfully decline the Public Accounts Committee meeting invitation to attend before it.”

RTÉ staff members staged another demonstration at lunch time on Wednesday. The new director general Kevin Bakhurst spoke with workers and union representatives at the protest.

Unions attending the demonstration have called for major reform within the organisation.

With the constant Oireachtas committee hearings, publication of various documents, and the nature of an evolving news cycle, it can be difficult to keep up with the crux of what exactly has happened in RTÉ.

We have written a short explainer piece outlining the key seven developments of the story so far. You can read it here.

Although RTÉ has been in recent weeks been plagued by controversy surrounding its hidden payments to Ryan Tubridy, prior to this it was battling another fire: the GAAGO controversy.

In late spring, hurling and football fans expressed anger as some matches were not available free-to-air and were instead put behind a paywall on the GAAGO online platform.

At 1.30pm, representatives from both RTÉ and the GAA will appear before the Oireachtas Committee on Sport and Media, with politicians eager to hear more about the platform, how decisions are made as to what is free-to-air and what is behind the paywall, and how popular the streaming service is.

The GAA will tell the committee that the number of free-to-air games on television is higher than ever before, describing the streaming service as a “positive and exciting departure”.

Good morning all, it’s Shauna Bowers here taking over the RTÉ live story. Reaction to yesterday’s explosive Oireachtas committee meetings between Ryan Tubridy, agent Noel Kelly and politicians continue to rumble on a day later.

Vivienne Clarke reports:

Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has said she does not know for how long the Oireachtas committees will continue their inquiries into the RTÉ pay scandal, but that at some point a line will have to be drawn.

Ms McEntee told RTÉ radio’s Today with Claire Byrne show the information that had been presented to the Oireachtas committees was “put together” and made public so that everybody could see what had happened.

There were a number of strands to the issue, she said. It was important that as a publicly funded body RTÉ was held accountable, but it was also important that all the facts be made public, she said.

Separately, there was a process whereby Minister for Media Catherine Martin was seeking a forensic review “looking at the accounts again to make sure that all of the facts are there, that they’re clear”.

New RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst had commenced work just this week so he needed to be given time to take all the information that had been gathered and to make sure that trust was rebuilt in RTÉ to ensure the structure in the organisation was transparent and that the public had confidence in the public service, she added.

Ms McEntee said she had not heard any of the evidence presented to the committees.

“Of course I’ve read and while I haven’t been able to see in real time, I’ve read what has happened.”

Both committees now had to present their reports so that all the information could be analysed along with the forensic review, she added.

Asked if she thought Mr Tubridy should return to the airwaves, the Minister said: “Personally, I don’t think it’s for me to decide or to dictate who should or should not be on air.

“I think that’s a matter for the director general and the RTÉ authority, and I know that he is obviously going to be taking into account all of the situations that have arisen, all of the information that he has, and then that decision will be made. So I really don’t think it’s appropriate for me as a Government Minister to dictate who should or should not be on our radio.”

Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon has said there is still a “fog” surrounding payments to Mr Tubridy from RTÉ, with many questions “left hanging in the air” after six hours of committee hearings yesterday.

Mr Cannon said there was a discrepancy between Noel Kelly’s response in the Grant Thornton report, which investigated payments to Mr Tubridy, and his comments to the PAC. Either his account to Grant Thornton was inaccurate or his account to the PAC was inaccurate, he said. “The two simply don’t stand.”

Mr Cannon said previous evidence from RTÉ representatives had also been contradicted by Mr Kelly and Mr Tubridy.

“We remain in the fog, remain confused, and ultimately we remain deeply concerned,” he said.

On a separate topic, RTÉ's partnership with the GAA to stream games on its online subscription service GAAGO will be the focus of an Oireachtas committee hearing later today at around 1pm.

Political correspondent Jennifer Bray has details of what GAA officials are expected to tell politicians here.

Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe has said it was not his “business” or that of any politician to comment on whether Ryan Tubridy should return to on-air duties at RTÉ.

When asked if the Government would be providing more funding to RTÉ, Mr Donohoe told Newstalk Breakfast he would not be indicating what the Government response would be.

Mr Bakhurst had to face three key issues, he said: the implementation of a transparent pay policy within the station, a register of interests and the funding of RTÉ.

What had really happened within RTÉ would have to be determined by a forensic accountant as “really serious” issues had arisen and people were annoyed about what had happened, the Minister said. But it was important to have a sense of “proportionality and balance” during the inquiries, he warned.

On the issue of the TV licence and reports that Minister for Arts and Culture Catherine Martin would not be advising people on whether or not to pay their licence fee, Mr Donohoe said there was no stronger advocate for RTÉ and public service broadcasting than Ms Martin.

The Irish Independent has a significant interview with Kevin Bakhurst published today – here are some of the best quotes from it.

When it came to Noel Kelly, who represents many of the top presenters in RTÉ, Mr Bakhurst said: “I don’t think it’s healthy for any country to have just one agent who’s so dominant.”

On 2FM he said he did not “see any case for selling off 2FM at the moment, but you can’t rule things out”.

He also said he wanted a more formal criteria for how the salaries of top presenters are set. “I’d like to work through it and see if we can get a more formal framework around it. We need to be able to explain it better. It’s very hard to explain to people,” he said.

When it came to whether the Toy Show the Musical would return again, he was straight to the point. “No, gone”.

Mr Bakhurst said the sale and move of RTÉ from its current south Dublin site “could be” an option in the future. “It’s very disruptive and it’s very expensive. Long term, it’s quite exciting but I don’t think it was a runner just because of the price tag,” he said.

Here’s what it says in the papers:

The Sun splashes with the headline The Untruth Hurts, in reference to Mr Tubridy’s statement there had been seven material untruths since the controversy broke late last month. We have a piece examining each of those here.

The front page of The Irish Times reads: Tubridy accuses RTÉ of misleading the public on payments saga.

The Irish Daily Mail’s front page reads: Touch and Go if I’m to Keep my Job in reference to Mr Tubridy, while the Irish Examiner runs with the quote This is not the Ryan Tubridy scandal. This is the RTÉ scandal.

The front page of the Irish Independent leads on their interview with Mr Bakhurst, stating: New RTÉ boss opens door to sale of Montrose.

Another set piece to keep an eye out for later is a rally organised by members of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) in RTÉ at 1pm that will likely be one way to check the temperature of the waters inside the broadcaster.

Previous rallies organised by the NUJ saw expressions of huge anger and disgust by journalists and staff in RTÉ at the unfolding revelations over secret payments to Mr Tubridy and lavish spending by RTÉ.

Some early reaction this morning to the lengthy Oireachtas committee hearings yesterday, Vivienne Clarke reports.

Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor, who is a member of the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee (PAC), has said he believes Mr Tubridy “came out better than he went into” the PAC meeting on Tuesday.

Many of the documents released by Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly in advance of the meeting had “improved his standing”, Mr O’Connor told Newstalk Breakfast.

However, he was not happy the 39 pages of documents had been provided to the committee members “just 90 minutes” before the committee meeting. The documents had included emails between Mr Kelly and RTÉ that indicated previous testimony from RTÉ representatives around the underwriting of a €75,000-a-year deal with Renault had been “misleading”, he said.

There remained many questions for RTÉ to answer, particularly former director general Dee Forbes and former chief financial officer Breda O’Keefe, he added.

Mr O’Connor did have concerns about the claim that as part of the deal Renault had in previous years paid Mr Tubridy in advance for events that had not yet been held. “That’s hard to understand. I would take that with a pinch of salt.” It was highly unusual for someone to be paid two years in advance, he said.

RTÉ's new director general, Kevin Bakhurst, now had “a golden ticket” and had the opportunity to reform the station from the top to the bottom. “This is a clean slate,” Mr O’Connor said.

Good morning, Jack Power reporter with The Irish Times here. I will be running today’s live story on the ongoing RTÉ scandal around payments to presenter Ryan Tubridy and spending this morning.

You can expect there will be plenty of reaction and fallout from Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly’s appearance before two Oireachtas committees yesterday, where the pair sought to shift the blame for the controversy firmly back on to RTÉ.

What’s new this morning?

In a significant interview published today, new RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst has suggested the broadcaster selling its primary Montrose base in south Dublin could be on the table, as it tries to work its way out of the hole it is in.

Mr Bakhurst, who started this week, said the controversial Toy Show the Musical, which made a loss of €2.2 million last year, will be scrapped.

In the interview with the Irish Independent, he said he did not see a case for selling off 2FM. He also added he wanted to see more formal criteria governing how top presenters’ salaries are set.