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NIALL CARSON/PA IMAGES

RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst meets in person with Ryan Tubridy

In a statement, RTÉ said the pair had a one-to-one meeting.

NEW RTÉ DIRECTOR-General Kevin Bakhurst met with Ryan Tubridy in person this week.

In a statement, RTÉ said the pair had a one-to-one meeting.

Former Late Late Show host Tubridy has been off air from his weekday radio show since a payments scandal broke at RTÉ last month and his future at the broadcaster remains in serious doubt.

RTÉ has been engulfed in controversy since it admitted it had underdeclared Tubridy’s earnings by €345,000 from 2017 to 2022.

The figure includes three €75,000 annual payments received by Tubridy for proposed public appearances for Renault, as part of a tripartite agreement involving the sponsor, RTÉ and the presenter.

The most controversial aspect of the deal was RTÉ’s decision to underwrite the payments, which effectively resulted in the publicly funded broadcaster covering the costs.

RTÉ said today that the pair had “a good, open, and constructive conversation and will meet again in a few weeks”. The broadcaster said it has no further comment to make.

In an interview with the Irish Times last Saturday, Backhurst said he would be contacting Tubridy to discuss his future with the broadcaster.

“I’ve got to judge a number of things here. One is the events of the past few weeks and the events of the last few days,” Backhurst said.

“But also, as I said, I want to talk to staff and I’ve already started doing that, and people who work in radio, and have worked with Ryan and other people who work in radio, and the leadership team.”

The Director General told the paper he wanted a decision on Tubridy’s future before the end of July.

Tubridy and his agent appeared before two Oireachtas committees last week where the presenter said he had been “publicly cancelled” and it was “touch and go” whether he would be allowed to return to his weekly radio programme.

He said he wants to return to RTÉ Radio as soon as possible “because it’s all I’ve got”.

“If I do go back to RTÉ, which I hope to, it’ll be a whole new world order,” Tubridy said.

With reporting from Press Association

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43 Comments
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    Mute Patrick Gormley
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    Aug 26th 2013, 1:43 PM

    Here we go again. When will young people ever learn. Exactly the same criteria as of just about every weekend over the past years. Note : single vehicle collision, late night / early morning , back road or minor road. Most of these collisions involved speed and alcohol , so lets. See how this incident pans out. God help these poor people.

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    Mute Joey JoeJoe Shabadoo
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    Aug 26th 2013, 1:44 PM

    Right on the nose.
    Its a shame, a waste…. And an inevitability…. Week after week.

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    Mute Davin Lynch
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    Aug 26th 2013, 4:54 PM

    Yep…every week.

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    Mute Karen Hennessy
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    Aug 26th 2013, 6:59 PM

    People use young people as scapegoats … We’re not bad people like !

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    Mute Davin Lynch
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    Aug 26th 2013, 7:05 PM

    It’s not that at all,early 20′s and teens dying on our roads every weekend. Personally I think more education is needed. I had a tracker in my car for 4 years when I was younger which meant I couldn’t speed,imagine if all young driver had that..

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    Mute Denise Friary
    Favourite Denise Friary
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    Aug 26th 2013, 1:52 PM

    Let’s not rush to judgement, maybe the car was faulty or the brakes failed please let the Garda do the job of finding the facts.

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    Mute P O Leary
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    Aug 26th 2013, 2:03 PM

    Deniese.
    This is a terrible accident but very few car crashes accur because of mechanical failure. ( I believe its around half of one percent)
    Alchol,Speed and or human error are almost always to blame.
    So sad for the families involved
    RIP to the young man.

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    Mute tom
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    Aug 26th 2013, 2:06 PM

    Driving in the city and on rural backroad roads is not the same. There is lots of factors that may have caused this tragic loss of life. So it’s pointless taking the high moral ground and making generalisations. Rest in peace

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    Mute Monika Kalinska
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    Aug 26th 2013, 2:29 PM

    RIP
    Won’t be easy for the 3 survivors Thoughts and prayers with all involved

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    Mute Dodima99
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    Aug 27th 2013, 7:39 AM

    I live in the area and didn’t hear anything till I saw this article now. Does anyone know if the victim was named yet. Very sad. RIP to him and thought with the family and friends.

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