Varadkar: Tubridy and his agent showing at committees is ‘right decision’

Jul 06, 2023 at 10:35 PM

aoiseach Leo Varadkar has stated RTE star presenter Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly have made the correct choice to look at two key parliamentary committees on Tuesday.

The males have been on the centre of a disaster on the Irish nationwide broadcaster because it was revealed final month that RTE had under-reported the wage paid to Tubridy and didn’t disclose 345,000 euro of extra funds to him between 2017 and 2022.

They are to look earlier than the Public Accounts Committee and the Media Committee on Tuesday.

A solicitor representing the boys wrote to each committees indicating a need to make clear a lot of issues and supply “important information”.

They have a narrative to inform and I feel it will be important for individuals to listen to their aspect of the story. It will shed extra gentle on this

Speaking to reporters, Mr Varadkar stated it was “good” that Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly would seem as a part of the probes into the funds and governance scandal at RTE.

“They have a story to tell and I think it is important for people to hear their side of the story.

“It will shed more light on this.”

Asked if he was involved concerning the tone of questioning through the hearings, on condition that the Supreme Court had beforehand dominated towards the Public Accounts Committee over its therapy of one other witness, Mr Varadkar stated: “Nobody wants a repeat of that.

“Because, aside from the hurt that does to those individuals if they’re mistreated before a committee, there’s also a potential liability for the taxpayer and a lot of this is about the misuse or inappropriate use of taxpayers’ money and it would be very unfortunate if we ended up causing it to happen again.”