Ryan Tubridy and agent to be invited to appear at Committee next Tuesday

Kenneth Fox

Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly of NK Management will be invited to appear before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) next Tuesday, according to the Irish Examiner.

It comes after Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly wrote through their solicitor that they would be willing to meet with both the PAC and the media committee over the controversy surrounding misstated payments made by RTÉ to Mr Tubridy between 2017 and 2022.

Sinn Féin TD and PAC chair, Brian Stanley, is to invite both Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly before the committee and will also write to invite a number of RTÉ Executives before PAC again next Thursday.

The invites are due to be issued shortly, it is understood.

A letter via their solicitor, sent to media committee chair Niamh Smyth, states that both Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly wish to “fully co-operate and assist” with the Oireachtas investigations into RTÉ expenditure and governance issues.

“They believe that they have important information that will assist the committee in its examination of these issues and clarify a number of matters that have been raised.”

A booklet of relevant documents will be prepared in advance of Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly appearing, which will be circulated among TDs before the meeting. It comes following another bruising day for the national broadcaster yesterday at the media committee.

Minister for Culture and Media, Catherine Martin is holding an emergency meeting today with incoming Deputy General (DG) Kevin Bakhurst, interim DG Adrian Lynch and Chair of the Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh. The drip feed of information has further eroded the board’s “trust and confidence in the executive” and now the board has requested “swift action be taken,” the chair said.