RTÉ’s Dave Fanning has been forced to apologise after comparing an Oireachtas Committee hearing to a “Nuremberg trial”.
Earlier this week, Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly appeared before both the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee and the Media Committee to share their version of events amid the ongoing RTÉ controversy.
Taking to Twitter on the day, Dave – who is also represented by Mr Kelly – tweeted: “I think we all need a distraction from that nonsensical Oireachtas Nuremberg trial”.
RTÉ’s new Director General Kevin Bakhurst later stated of Dave’s remarks: “That is not appropriate from my point of view, as an employee or a contractor working for RTÉ because the work of this committee has been incredibly important in trying to cleanse this.”
“I thought that was very insulting.”
Taking to Twitter on Thursday evening, Dave was forced to apologise for his comment.
The RTÉ 2FM presenter tweeted: “I want to apologise unreservedly to the Oireachtas Committee for my ill judged comment regarding this weeks hearings. There was no intention to trivialise the proceedings.”
I want to apologise unreservedly to the Oireachtas Committee for my ill judged comment regarding this weeks hearings. There was no intention to trivialise the proceedings.
— Dave Fanning (@davefanning) July 13, 2023
RTÉ was plunged into chaos when it was revealed that Ryan’s earnings were publicly understated by €345,000 over the last six years.
The issue was identified during a routine audit of RTÉ’s 2022 accounts, prompting an independent review of the matter.
The RTÉ Board issued an apology over the error, and later Ryan also apologised for not questioning RTÉ over his published earnings.
The scandal resulted in the suspension of RTÉ’s Director General Dee Forbes, who later resigned from her role.
Over the weekend, RTÉ’s Director of Strategy Rory Coveney resigned from his role with immediate effect having appeared a number of times before multiple Oireachtas Committees.
On Monday, RTÉ’s new Director General Kevin Bakhurst confirmed the disbandment of the Executive Board when he took over office from Ms Forbes.
Later that day, Commercial Director Geraldine O’Leary later announced her early retirement.
