“Clearly Oliver Callan and Brendan Courtney have been doing a really good job in that slot.”
On Thursday night, the news broke that talks between Ryan Tubridy and RTÉ about a potential return to radio for the presenter had fallen apart.
And now the Director-General of RTÉ, Kevin Bakhurst, is opening up about what went wrong. Appearing on Morning Ireland on Friday (18 August) to address questions on the matter, he explained:
"We can't move on if people won't take responsibility for their own actions"
RTÉ's Director General Kevin Bakhurst explains why there are 'no plans' for Ryan Tubridy to return to his radio show at RTÉ at this time ⤵️#VMNews pic.twitter.com/hLTs6L5DBC
— Virgin Media News (@VirginMediaNews) August 18, 2023
“We invested a huge amount of time in the last couple of months in discussions with Ryan to try and see if there was a way back.
“But it wasn’t straightforward having the discussions but I thought we got to a position where we we’re nearly there and nearly at a point where we could bring him back.
“However, I feel there was an issue throughout about the need to accept your role in what has been a hugely damaging scandal for everybody involved and particularly for RTÉ who need to take the vast majority of the blame.
“But there are others, including Ryan and his team, who should take some of the blame and take some responsibility.
Asked if he felt that Tubridy was not doing this, Bakhurst responded: “There was a concern of mine throughout that I don’t think he was in that position and I don’t think he also was aware that there was significant resistance in parts of the organisation to him coming back.”
The Director-General also said he believed the ex-Late Late presenter was “shocked and disappointed” that the discussions came to an end and that the former radio host did not see this development coming.
Kevin Bakhurst – Image by Sasko Lazarov/RollingNews.ie
“I don’t really want to go into more of the detail of that because it was quite a personal conversation and a difficult conversation on both parts,” Bakhurst added.
“But I was also clear that over time the door is not firmly shut and we need to see where things go.”
The Director-General was also asked when a decision will be made about Tubridy’s radio successor.
In response, Bakhurst said he has already started discussions with the head of Radio 1 and the acting head of content at RTÉ about a replacement.
“Clearly Oliver Callan and Brendan Courtney have been doing a really good job in that slot,” he also stated.
Read more:
- ‘No plans for Ryan to return’ – RTÉ Director-General ends Tubridy negotiations
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