Up-Date From Ireland - Part one

 

RTE upsets Catholic Ireland (again)

Part One

I don’t know if you have heard of the goings on at RTE (Public Irish broadcasting channel). It is said that they are going through their greatest crisis since its foundation. As I have virtually turned off the Irish media I’m just going on from what I have gleaned from newspaper headlines as I walk past shops and the occasional news on the radio. I have listened back in to RTE a bit see how they are reporting the situation.

From what I have gathered, it turns out that their star presenter Ryan Tubridy was paid 375,000 euros more, over a five-year period, than his stated earnings. The management at RTE had done a backdoor deal with Tubridy called bartering, where they would prop up his salary to the estimated cash that he would have received from promos, advertising, etc, that he couldn’t engage in due to having to remain impartial to these products services, etc. Apparently, it was legal, but the clandestine nature of the deal caused the problem. They seem like rabbits caught in the headlights. Tubridy even denied that he knew anything about these payments to his account. One wonders if he had been docked 375,000 euros over that time, would it have similarly gone unnoticed? It also seems to be that it was only the rte director general Dee Forbes who knew about and signed off on the deal (but that all has to be investigated). She has been suspended from her position. In short, she’s gone for good. In 2021 he was involved in a sacrilegious play in which a news presenter in a ‘Christmas play’ made an in which he referred to God raping Our Lady. There was understandable outrage, and Dee Forbes stood over the mockery and would not apologise for it. Many people went, myself included, to have a prayerful protest. Eventually, she was forced to back down and apologize after so many complaints, probably the highest number of complaints they ever had. I wouldn’t think it was anything to do with the fact that she had done something wrong (though we can never be sure; maybe the prayer had some effect) but more to keep her job.

There are many angles and questions to the story. One is the people are suffering in the cost of everyday living while this presenter has an annual salary of over 440,000 euros, it was as high as 495,000. The optics haven't gone down well with people. While licences are rising and people are constantly threatened, fined, and even imprisoned, this celebrity is rolling in at their expense. It hasn't gone down well with the lower staff and journalists at RTE either; it appears that they are fuelling much of the backlash. While they have been told to cut down on costs in each department, they have been told to cheap lodgings if they go to report on a matter, etc., to make savings. It's going to top up Ryan Tubridy's bank balance. It must be said that Tubridy too has his supporters. Listeners for whom he can do no wrong, saying that he's a great presenter, he deserves it, and that we are a nation of begrudgers. Totally swept off their feet with stardom. It should be noted that Tubridy and one of his guests, a 'comedian', mocked the Holy Eucharist on his show, calling the Eucharist haunted bread with Tubridy's approval. God usually has his ways of sorting things out.  

By Prayer Crusader St Rita

Note this post was written in 2023

Here is a link to a Catholic Herald article critical of RTE 

https://catholicherald.co.uk/the-last-priests-and-nuns-in-ireland-a-missed-opportunity-to-move-beyond-the-same-old-tropes/