EVERY now and then the country you live in just goes a bit weird. We had weirdness galore during most of the Celtic Tiger years, when putting down decking became the national pastime, and we sold houses to each other as if we were all millionaires. We had weirdness during Saipan in 2002 when, in between governments, we were more riven by the row between McCarthy and Keane.
And we’ve gone weird again now as the former host of The Late, Late Show Ryan Tubridy undergoes the most spectacular fall from grace.
Watching the RTÉ board being grilled by politicians recently was like watching an alternative Ireland. Somehow all of the TDs were shocked that RTÉ wined and dined people at things like the Rugby World Cup finals. Now aside from the fact that, if ever there was a match made in heaven it’s Montrose and rugby, did those TDs not know that all sports grounds now have executive boxes? And who did they think was in them? And surely they knew that RTÉ’s commercial revenue almost matches its public funding? Of course that wouldn’t allow them to grandstand their outrage and, believe me, they all knew the cameras were there.
Just to be clear, I’m most definitely not a fan of Ryan Tubridy’s and I really do believe in the importance of a proper public broadcaster.
And, let me say, I’m appalled by greed in any form.
But the outrage over Tubridy’s inflated salary and the lie that he was getting less than he actually was just seems, well, weird.
For instance, I remember many moons ago coming back from a long, wonderful trip to Ireland, to an England that had just elected Tony Blair. I ended up at some kind of celebratory party where one lad I knew gleefully repeated the, did you see Portillo’s face line. And just to be clear I’d known nothing but Conservative rule and hated them, not too strong a word, with a passion. And still do.
But, I couldn’t resist pointing out, didn’t you always vote Tory? Thanks for putting a dampener on the party I was told.
Weird. Similarly when Princess Diana died. She was like a neighbour, wasn’t she, someone I’d worked with for a number of years said to me. Well, only if she’s one you’ve never, ever mentioned before I said. Weird.
Now it’s Ryan Tubridy and his excess wages. All of a sudden we are all supposed to be outraged and offended that RTÉ is run just like every other business. But isn’t that the culture we promote? What is Dragon’s Den on RTÉ, where people pitch their idea of how to get rich to a ground of hard-nosed entrepreneurs, if not a celebration of the free market? After all are any of those competing dreaming of just being moderately well off?
What is our entire celebrity culture if not a warped adoration of wealth? And yet here we all are outraged at one man’s personal greed as if we didn’t know all along, even without the hidden sums, that he was paid a ridiculous amount. RTÉ’s annual list of its top earners might well be a requisite for a public body but isn’t it also the Rich List in miniature?
RTÉ journalists have covered the subject of Tubridy’s payments in fantastic detail. They have not shied away. But here’s what I can’t quite understand. Dragon's Den and The Business on RTÉ are dedicated to pure capitalism, dedicated to the free market.
And now onto Ryan Tubridy’s unfathomable, unimaginable, greed. Weird.
