Ryan Tubridy will be compelled to testify before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, Chair Brian Stanley has confirmed. 

Senior members of RTÉ spent Wednesday and Thursday answering questions about the broadcaster’s hidden payments to Mr Tubridy. 

Mr Stanley said there are a number of individuals they would like to hear from and the PAC is now “armed” to legally compel them. 

“I will be proposing to the Committee that we seek Dee Forbes - we’ve already agreed to that by the way,” he told The Hard Shoulder. 

“The Committee members want to see Ryan Tubridy in; they do want to see Noel Kelly, his [Mr Tubridy’s] agent and Jim Jennings, the Head of Content at RTÉ who is out due to illness at the moment.” 

An RTÉ logo at the station headquarters in Donnybrook, Dublin 4. Picture by: Leah Farrell/RollingNews.ie

Mr Stanley described the controversy as a “calamity” for the national broadcaster and said it was important to “hear their side of it.” 

He added he hoped it would not be necessary to compel anyone and they would come of their own accord.

“After what has unfolded in the last eight or nine days, I would say to people to ‘cop on,’” he said.  

“You won’t have any credibility for the rest of your life - wherever they go. 

“It’s best to come in, get it out on the table, hold your hands up and say sorry to the public, the staff in RTÉ and other people they mislead.”

Former Director General Dee Forbes declined to testify this week due to illness - something Mr Stanley said was understandable. 

The Sinn Féin TD also said there needs to be a “complete change in the management team” at RTÉ and “whoever has to go, has to go.”

Main image: Ryan Tubridy and Dee Forbes. Picture by: RollingNews.ie