Ryan Tubridy's performance at Oireachtas commitees will be must-see TV

Given reports that some pubs will be broadcasting proceedings live, Tuesday's meetings are likely to be the most watched Oireachtas committee sessions in history.

Broadcaster Ryan Tubridy, right, and agent Noel Kelly will face hours of questioning at Dáil committees on Tuesday. Picture: Colin Keegan, Collins, Dublin.

Nearly three weeks after RTÉ announced that he had been paid more than had been publicly declared, Ryan Tubridy will give his side of the story on Tuesday.

TDs and senators will be queueing up, RTÉ references in hand, to get answers from the former Late Late Show host about how a deal was reached which guaranteed him additional income from a commercial partner, underwritten by the broadcaster. 

Politicians will work to find out who specifically made that decision and what the presenter's role was in the deal.

Mr Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly will enter Leinster House sometime around 10.30am ahead of an 11am hearing with the Dáil's Public Accounts Committee, slated to last until 2.30pm. 

Mr Tubridy may have no choice but to opt then to have his lunch in the canteen on site, because he is due before the Oireachtas media committee at 3pm. 

The pair will be accompanied by a solicitor, though the representative will only be allowed to participate in "a supporting role", meaning the lawyer will not be allowed to make any oral contribution.

New RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst speaks to the media outside the broadcaster's headquarters in Donnybrook, Dublin, on Monday. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The committee appearance will be Mr Tubridy's first public engagement to answer questions on the matter.

In his initial statement after the secret payments were revealed, he said that he "can't shed light" on the way in which RTÉ treated certain payments to him between 2017 and 2022.

"Like many people, I’m surprised by the announcements made in RTÉ’s statement today regarding the errors in the reporting of its accounts," he said last month.

"It is unfortunate that these errors are in relation to how RTÉ has reported payments made to me, but I just want to be clear: this is a matter for RTÉ and I have no involvement in RTÉ’s internal accounting treatment or RTÉ’s public declarations in connection with such payments.

"Obviously, I’m disappointed to be at the centre of this story, but unfortunately I can’t shed any light on why RTÉ treated these payments in the way that they did nor can I answer for their mistakes in this regard."

Similarly, NK Management, which represents Mr Tubridy and is headed by Mr Kelly, had said it was "made aware today of RTÉ’s statement concerning its accounting treatment and public declarations of payments made to Ryan Tubridy".

However, Mr Tubridy would say the following day that he "should have asked questions" about the undeclared payments made to him by RTÉ.

RTÉ presenter Ryan Tubridy: 'I should have asked questions at the time'. Picture: Alan Hamilton

Mr Tubridy said RTÉ’s "accounting treatment and publication of payments made to me between 2017 and 2022 contained serious errors".

"While I have no responsibility for the corporate governance in RTÉ or how or what they publish in their accounts, when my earnings were published I should have asked questions at the time and sought answers as to the circumstances which resulted in incorrect figures being published," he stated.

He said he apologised "unreservedly" for failure to do so. Mr Tubridy added that it is "simply not true" that he did not take a pay cut over the last number of years.

But since then, as more and more revelations have come out about RTÉ and the agreement, Mr Tubridy has maintained his silence.

In offering to come before the committees on Tuesday, Mr Tubridy is taking something of a risk, though one which is likely calculated. Anything less than a completely transparent and confident performance — one which shows some contrition and humility — could put his 25-year RTÉ career in some jeopardy.

PAC chairman Brian Stanley said that the payments and how they arose are "matters of significant public interest, considering the level of funding RTÉ receives from taxpayers through the licence fee" and it is that issue which will need to be addressed.

Amid reports that some pubs will be broadcasting proceedings live, the hearings promise to be must-see TV.