Eager punters gathered in several of Dublin city’s pubs at lunchtime to watch the grilling of RTE star Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly by the Public Accounts Committee.
And it was a first for the pubs to switch their normal sports channels to the live proceedings of one of the most anticipated parliamentary hearings on Oireachtas TV - with one publican admitting he struggled to actually locate the channel.
The underfire RTE presenter, who is the station’s top earner, and his agent were being quizzed earlier over the secret payments controversy.
Read More: Ryan Tubridy Oireachtas LIVE stream and updates as RTE star and agent hit back
Paul Mangan, owner of Devitts bar on Dublin’s Camden Street said he decided to show the grilling of RTE star Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly by the Public Accounts Committee due to demand from punters.
“We’d be busy for lunch everyday anyhow but we got a lot of phone calls on Monday asking if they came in, would we show it. We responded and have it on several televisions and the punters are glued to it,” Mr Mangan told this paper.
“There is a lot of public interest in it. Apart from when RTE were showing the Covid figures and what they were doing with the pubs during that time, I haven’t seen an interest in the news since like there is now.
“It’s also our first time showing Oireachtas TV. We’d be big for sports and we struggled to find the channel for Oireachtas TV but we want to keep the customers happy,” he laughed.
He said it will be interesting to see how it all unfolds.
“Ryan had interesting comments and we have to listen to his side of the story too. Obviously something is not right in RTE so we will have to wait and see how it all unfolds.”
A retired Joe Phipps from Beaumont was one of many punters in Mr Mangan’s pub glued to the proceedings on one of the many televisions.
Speaking to this paper, Mr Phipps said he “thinks it's great because it’s all new. The question is, is RTE going to take him back? I don’t think I can see him going back.
“I always listened to his show on the radio but when there is something like this hanging over you, you really can’t go back on air.
"I think Tubridy should be a politician. His two uncles were politicians so it's in the blood," he said.
“When you are asked to take a pay cut but then get secret deals, that’s where it’s all wrong.
“I think the top earners are overpaid. They are getting too much money," said Mr Phipps.
Meanwhile, in the Camden Deluxe venue, also on Camden Street, manager Linda Monahan also gave into punters’ demands
“Since last week we have been getting a number of enquiries as to whether we’d be showing the Oireachtas proceedings on our 4k Samsung screen, which is the biggest in Europe,” said Ms Monahan.
“We wouldn’t normally show this kind of airing as we are a sports bar but it’s really down to the demand. Today the demand was higher for the Oireachtas committee than it was for the Tour de France or Wimbleton. The public in Dublin seem to want to watch the grilling.
“We’ve had a good reaction to it all and it’s nice to do something different.”
Pals Lily Magahy, 22, and Enya Donohue, 21, both from Dublin dropped into Camden Deluxe to view the proceedings with interest on the big screen.
“We live around the corner so we thought why not drop in. When the scandal broke I don’t think I was overly surprised nor overly upset either. But the more other stuff came out I realised it was serious,” said Enya.
Lily said she listens to Ryan Tubridy on RTE Radio 1 but since he has been suspended since the controversy arose she said it’s nice to see new talent on the radio.
“He’s been on the radio so long that it’s nice to have new people on,” said Lily.
She also said she didn’t think the public would stop paying their licence fee because of the controversy - “Maybe a few will cancel theirs for a while but I don’t think in the long term people will stop paying their licence fees as it is the law.”
Emmet Byrne, originally from Dundalk but living in Dublin, said he dropped into the Camden Deluxe during his lunch break as he has an interest in what’s happening.
“I am interested to see what comes out that we don’t already know so far,” said Emmet.
“It doesn’t seem to me Ryan Tubridy has done anything wrong in terms of RTE’s mismanagement of accounts,” he continued.
“In an ideal situation I’d like to see Ryan’s name get cleared,” he said, adding that he doesn’t think the top presenters’ wages are justified.
In February, RTE released information on fees earned by its ten highest-paid presenters in 2020 and 2021.
Tubridy's media company, Tuttle Productions Ltd, was paid €440,000 in 2021 for the Late Late Show presenter's services. Tubridy was paid €495,000 and €466,250 in 2019 and 2020 respectively.
Joe Duffy was the second-highest paid presenter in 2021, earning €351,000, with Claire Byrne following in third on €350,000.
“No, their wages are not justified. I think their wages are a bit ridiculous and I think all their wages should be capped at €150,000,” he said.
