My name has been sullied, my reputation has been sullied ... it's hard to leave the house

Tearful star tells of emotional turmoil | Radio host & his agent face TDs' quiz

- LOUISE BURNE and FERGHAL BLANEY

AN emotional Ryan Tubridy has said he can barely leave his house over the pay scandal as he told TDs and Senators he could be out of a job by Friday. 

During two gruelling appearances at Oireachtas committees, the star and agent Noel Kelly laid the blame for the debacle a the feet of RTE.

During the Public Accounts Committee, Mr Tubridy appeared to be close to tears several times during his opening statement yesterday.

He said: “My name has been desperately sullied, I think my reputation has been sullied… this has become beyond difficult.”

He then slammed RTE management, saying: “If they hadn’t rushed everything out 99% of this wouldn’t be an issue... If they’d simply asked the questions... I hid nothing and I have nothing to hide.”

Mr Tubridy, 50, lamented that the controversy had been difficult for him to deal with and he believed he had been “publicly cancelled”.

He told the PAC: “I’m deeply upset. I’m hurt. It’s hard to leave the house if you really want me to be honest about it.

“People here have families. This is my first rodeo being in the public eye [like this]. I’ve never seen anything like it.

CANCELLED

“I don’t know if any of you’ve been cancelled before but let me tell you, you don’t want to be there.”

The national broadcaster first revealed almost three weeks ago that Mr Tubridy had received payments worth €345,000 that had not been declared.

There was also controversy around RTE’s decision to underwrite a €75,000 commercial deal with Renault.