There is a bit of fun going on in our national broadcaster.

Seeing as it was my place of employment for forty years or so I had naturally pricked my ears up.

The fun and games got a little complicated but it all started with RTE understating an employee’s earnings in several of its annual reports. The employee [Ryan “The Twiglet” Tubridy] happened to be the highest earner with a salary of over half a million a year, with his own radio show and also hosting a chat show which coincidentally he had just stepped down from. RTE however said he was earning less than a half million. Tubridy was taken off-air while the mess was sorted.

Things got a bit complicated as all various gubmint committees sat around examining reports they had commissioned. It then got tedious and I more or less lost interest. I am no great fan of Tubridy [to put it mildly] so I wasn’t that bothered whether he resumed his broadcasting or not. I wouldn’t listen to him anyway.

Now apparently negotiations were going on at top level between the Director General and Tubridy as to whether RTE would sign a new contract or not. I heard somewhere on the grapevine that there was tentative agreement that he would return to his radio show at a reduced salary of around €170,000 [still not small beans?] and that an announcement would be made imminently.

This week one of the first reports was published. This found there had indeed been some “creative accounting” on the part of management and that Tubridy wasn’t to blame. Tubridy promptly issued a statement welcoming the report. Fair enough but that statement included a totally unnecessary line which I gather contradicted RTE’s stance, or something [I had lost interest at this stage].

The DG apparently didn’t like that little comment.

They won’t be renewing the contract.

So with one sentence, Tubridy is out of a job. I don’t think he has much in the way of qualifications [apart from a thick neck]. The only work he has ever had is with RTE so his only prospect is with another broadcaster here in Ireland. I doubt if any overseas broadcaster has even heard of him. One way or another his name will always be associated with dodgy dealings, whether or not he had a hand in them.

I’d say in the cold light of day he regrets opening his mouth?