Latest news with #Tubridy
Irish Independent
14 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Independent
Ryan Tubridy's fiancée shows off engagement ring at Joe Duffy's retirement party
The pair turned up to Joe's party in Dublin city centre pub The Duke on Friday night. A beaming Ryan called over photographers to where the couple were and said with a smile: 'I presume you want a picture of the ring?!'. Dr Kambamettu then proudly showed off the engagement ring, with the couple being congratulated by well-wishers. The former Liveline host, who left his show on Friday after nearly 27 years, was congratulated at the bash in The Duke by a collection of well-known faces and friends. Among those at the party were Miriam O'Callaghan, Aonghus McAnally, Brush Shields, Syl Fox, John McColgan, Mike Murphy, Marty Morrisey, Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick, Brenda Donohue, Health Minister Jennifer Carroll MacNeill, Gay Byrne's daughter Suzy and her daughter Sive, and Charlie Bird's widow Claire Mould. Joe was earlier in the day joined on his final show by his wife June and their triplets, who are now aged 30. Former RTÉ Radio and Late Late Show presenter Tubridy recently confirmed his good news on his Virgin Radio show after 'miscommunication' between him and a Co Galway jeweller. O'Dalaigh Jewellers in Clifden said Tubridy had bought the ring for a 'very special lady' and the post, which was subsequently deleted, was accompanied by a photo of the jeweller Jonty Daly and the couple posing together outside the store. Tubridy proposed to Clare by the Atlantic shore, and the couple later celebrated in local hotels. Revealing the news on his radio show at the time, Tubridy told listeners: 'I have a little bit of news that I've been keeping to myself, to ourselves.' "I'm very, very, very happy to confirm I did get engaged to my partner Clare in the west of Ireland.' Tubridy thanked a number of listeners for sending in their well-wishes following the announcement and said 'it's a very beautiful feeling' and 'a very exciting time to be alive'. "We were surrounded by gorgeous people who we didn't know, strangers in the hotel, and people who were working around the place and got a beautiful ring organised, and the weather was gorgeous,' he said of the couple's time last week. "And it's just the accumulation of a lot of lovely things happening, and I just decided now is the time. More to follow in terms of details and all the rest of it. And by the more to follow, I mean I'll tell my family first. "It's a very exciting time to be alive. I'm a very, very lucky man, and I think it's one of those beautiful moments where the world feels lighter.'
Sunday World
18 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Ryan Tubridy's new fiancée shows off sparkler at Joe Duffy's going-away party
A beaming Ryan called over photographers to where the couple were and said with a smile 'I presume you want a picture of the ring?!'. Ryan Tubridy arriving at Joe Duffy's farewell party with his new fiancee Dr Clare Kambamettu. Photo : Mark Doyle RYAN Tubridy chose Joe Duffy's retirement party to make his first public appearance with his new fiancée Dr Clare Kambamettu since the announcement of their engagement. The pair turned up to Joe's going-away drinks in Dublin city centre pub The Duke on Friday night. A beaming Ryan called over photographers to where the couple were and said with a smile 'I presume you want a picture of the ring?!'. A gushing Clare then proudly showed off her sparkler, with the couple being congratulated by well-wishers. The former Liveline host, who left his show on Friday after nearly 27 years, was congratulated at the bash in The Duke by a collection of well-known faces and friends. Ryan Tubridy and his fiancée Clare Among those at the party were Miriam O'Callaghan, Aonghus McAnally, Brush Shields, Syl Fox, John McColgan, Mike Murphy, Marty Morrisey, Alan Hughes and Karl Broderick, Brenda Donohue, Health Minister Dr Jennifer Carroll MacNeil, Gay Byrne's daughter Suzy and her daughter Sive, and Charlie Bird's widow Claire Mould. Joe was earlier in the day joined by his going away show by his wife June and their triplet children, who are now aged 30. Ryan Tubridy arriving at Joe Duffy's farewell party with his new fiancee Dr Clare Kambamettu. Photo : Mark Doyle News in 90 Seconds - June 28th Former RTÉ Radio and Late Late Show presenter Tubridy recently confirmed his good news on his Virgin Radio show after 'miscommunication' between him and a Co Galway that Tubs had bought a diamond ring from their store. O'Dalaigh Jewellers in Clifden said Tubridy had bought the ring for a 'very special lady and the post, which was subsequently deleted, was accompanied by a photo of the jeweller Jonty Daly and the couple posing together outside the store. Tubs proposed to Clare by the Atlantic shore, and the couple later celebrated in local hotels. Revealing the news on his radio show at the time, Tubridy told listeners: 'I have a little bit of news that I've been keeping to myself, to ourselves.' "I'm very, very, very happy to confirm I did get engaged to my partner Clare in the west of Ireland.' Tubridy thanked a number of listeners for sending in their well-wishes following the announcement and said 'it's a very beautiful feeling' and 'a very exciting time to be alive'. "We were surrounded by gorgeous people who we didn't know, strangers in the hotel, and people who were working around the place and got a beautiful ring organised, and the weather was gorgeous,' he said of the couple's time last week. "And it's just the accumulation of a lot of lovely things happening, and I just decided now is the time. More to follow in terms of details and all the rest of it. And by the more to follow, I mean I'll tell my family first. "It's a very exciting time to be alive. I'm a very, very lucky man, and I think it's one of those beautiful moments where the world feels lighter.' Co Kildare based Clare is a clinical psychologist and a former Rose of Tralee and it's believed that she and Tubridy began dating after she appeared as a guest on his former RTÉ Radio 1 One show. Her father is from India and her mum from Athy. Since leaving RTÉ, Tubs now hosts a daily show on Virgin Radio in London which is also broadcast on Q102. RTÉ was plunged into crisis in the Summer of 2023 after it admitted understating the fees for its star presenter and previous top-earner.
Irish Examiner
a day ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Gareth O'Callaghan: It's been two years since Tubridy was thrown to the lions. Is it time for RTÉ to ask him back?
'Until someone is prepared to lay out the systemic problem, we will simply go through cycles of finding corruption, finding a scapegoat, eliminating the scapegoat, and relaxing until we find the next scandal.' I'm not a fan of American politician Newt Gingrich; but as I read these words of his, I'm reminded of where I was this week two years ago when Ryan Tubridy's stellar career as Ireland's leading broadcaster started to come apart in what was a bolt out of the blue. Barely a month before, a day ahead of his final Late Late Show, he told fans: 'Tomorrow night is going to be a night of endings for sure, but beginnings for definite.' In hindsight, some might have called his words prophetic, others foreboding; but it seems certain he knew nothing about what was careering down the tracks. It would take a long hot summer before RTÉ's director general Kevin Bakhurst finally announced on August 18 that Tubridy would not be returning to his radio show, after a two-month controversy that became the most damaging crisis the broadcaster has ever faced in its almost 100-year history. It was an inglorious sacking, painfully drawn out, and made worse the previous month by the performances of some politicians on the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) with their humiliation of Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly during live Oireachtas TV sessions, the first of which had more than nine million minutes of online viewing. No doubt it's a date that's etched forever in his memory, the day his career slipped from his grip and his life changed — Tuesday, July 11, 2023, when he was thrown to the lions in Leinster House, a place that's not always known for its moral compass. For the first time in its history, this online streaming channel, which most viewers to the event had never heard of, had bigger audiences than the annual Toy Show. Pubs across the country showed the televised meetings on their big screens, while clips from earlier sessions were viewed millions of times on TikTok. 'This is my first rodeo being in the public eye,' Tubridy told PAC that day. 'My name has been desperately sullied, I think my reputation has been sullied.' Strong words not used lightly, which led this writer to suspect he was being scapegoated as a result of a gargantuan cover-up — one that, it turned out, had been simmering for years. No doubt Tuesday, July 11, 2023, is a date that's etched forever in Ryan Tubridy's memory, the day his career slipped from his grip and his life changed. File photo: Oireachtas TV In the words of American diplomat Madeleine Albright, 'the cover-up, more than the initial wrongdoing, is what is most likely to bring you down.' And it did, royally. It was a scandal waiting to happen, and it was allowed to happen, not just by successive RTÉ managements, but by governments who ignored the warning signs for years. Looking back at the cast of characters who testified at the hearings, the only one thrown under the bus was Tubridy. That tells its own story. It wasn't until Grant Thornton's report was published in August two years ago that the facts became clear amidst all the convoluted evidence divulged by both sides. But by then, one man's reputation had been badly harmed. It found that RTÉ had intentionally understated Tubridy's annual salary by €120,000 across the three years from 2017-2019 by driving down payments made to him to under €500,000. In total, Tubridy was overpaid by €345,000. This conclusion cleared him of blame, which appeared at one point to be piled high and deep against him. RTÉ essentially disregarded its own payroll system so as to undervalue Tubridy's salary. Payroll software at the broadcaster clearly showed he was paid more than the €500,000 over each of the three years. According to the report, Tubridy was also entitled to a €120,000 bonus, which he chose to waive. Hindsight can be merciless. What remains foremost in public memory two years later is the side deal with Renault, which RTÉ footed the bill for. Pubs across the country showed the televised meetings on their big screens from Oireachtas TV of RTE's star presenter Ryan Tubridy. File photo: Oireachtas TV In 2020, Tubridy was paid by RTÉ in a sponsorship deal brokered by him, his agent and the broadcaster worth €225,000, in return for taking part in three corporate events for the car dealer, of which only one took place. He hasn't repaid the outstanding €150,000. Last weekend, media minister Patrick O'Donovan encouraged Tubridy to hand back the money, 'so we can move on from it,' he said. Ryan Tubridy has clearly moved on from it. He now lives in London, recently got engaged, and carving out a career for himself in radio, having been left with little choice but to leave the country, censured as the poster boy of a scandal he didn't cause. He became the fall guy as accountancy practices that had been going on for years in RTÉ finally became public. Was there any need for the public humiliation and the verbal flogging that Ryan Tubridy was subjected to two years ago? Did it serve any purpose, apart from dividing a national audience? If anything, it laid bare the banjaxed business model of RTÉ. The station posted a €9.1million loss in 2023 when its licence revenue took a massive hit as a result of the scandal, which it likely will never recover from. Its business model has never worked, so how can it hope to be self-sufficient? Government handouts are RTÉ's only hope of surviving, but for how long more? I suspect Kevin Bakhurst is keeping a close eye on the BBC, whose charter comes up for renewal in two years; when the network will have to prove its fitness in negotiations in order to take on the next 10 years of public service broadcasting. RTÉ has always fancied itself as a BBC-type replica with the additional benefit of commercial revenue income. BBC's charter comprises a trio of core objectives: the pursuit of truth with no agenda, an emphasis on its native culture and storytelling, and a mission to bring people together – not unlike RTÉ. But has RTÉ not failed in two of these objectives in the light of what happened two years ago? RTÉ has a serious public service broadcasting remit, which is becoming more and more difficult to commit to in the modern climate of content-rich competitors with very deep pockets. In television land, new content is king. Repeating old programmes in order to fill a television schedule is one sure way to drive away viewers. It's difficult not to feel a sense of fatalism about RTÉ's future. Its treatment of a presenter who is still loved the length and breadth of Ireland, along with its handling of the payment scandal, was a devastating error of judgement. RTÉ's director general said there was a 'moral' case for Tubridy to return the money. Considering the scandal was of their own making, with disclosures of indefensible accounting and governance practices, and a propensity for decades of lavish corporate hospitality, RTÉ should be careful about highlighting what they regard as other people's morals. Ryan Tubridy at the official launch of Joe Duffy's autobiography 'Just Joe' in Dublin in 2011. File photo: Gareth Chaney Collins Grant Thornton's report absolved Ryan Tubridy of any blame. Whether he should return the remainder of the private sponsorship fee he received is a matter for him to decide. Unfortunately, the role that one individual found himself unwittingly cast into as the controversy unfolded two years ago, and how that role was sensationalised to the point where he was unjustly made out to be the villain, continues to overshadow the reality of a much greater scandal in which many of those responsible will never be punished. Two years on, the least RTÉ could do is offer Ryan Tubridy his job back. Maybe then, in the minister's own words, we can move on from it. Read More Gareth O'Callaghan: Unanswered questions haunt Philip Cairns case decades later
Irish Independent
22-06-2025
- Business
- Irish Independent
Ryan Tubridy should pay back €150,000 to RTÉ ‘so we can move on', says Media Minister
Patrick O'Donovan calls for return of money from Renault deal but source close to former Late Late Show host says RTÉ must comply with data request first Today at 21:30 The Media Minister has encouraged presenter Ryan Tubridy to pay back €150,000 to RTÉ to 'quench this thing once and for all'. Speaking to the Sunday Independent this weekend, after Mr Tubridy announced his engagement last Monday, the minister Patrick O'Donovan, who has also taken RTÉ to task, said that if Mr Tubridy handed over this sum, relating to the controversial Renault deal, 'we could move on from it'.
Extra.ie
21-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Extra.ie
What we know about Ryan Tubridy's fiancée's conflict-free engagement ring
Ryan Tubridy's lab-grown engagement ring is understood to have set the broadcaster back the very sweet price of €3,750, has learned. Smitten radio presenter Tubridy popped the question to his now fiancée, Clare Kambamettu, in her hometown of Clifden in Galway, presenting her with a ring he purchased from a local artisan jewellery shop. In a now-deleted Facebook post, O'Dailigh Jewellers of Clifden provided a detailed description of the ring, saying Tubridy himself was involved in the design process. Clare Kambamettu and Ryan Tubridy. Pic:O'Dailigh described the bespoke ring, writing that Tubridy chose 'a stunning 2.4 carat diamond ring which has a beautiful balance between a modern and old elegant style. The centre diamond is a 2-carat emerald cut with two tapered diamond baguettes on either side.' Now celebrity engagement ring specialist, Seamus Fahy of Voltaire Diamonds, who is considered one of the foremost experts in lab-grown diamonds, told that Tubridy's conflict-free rock could have set him back a relatively reasonable €3,750. 'Going off that description, the ring would have cost around €3,750,' said Mr Fahy. Dr Clare Kambamettu and Ryan Tubridy. Pic: RTÉ 'Lab-grown rings are significantly less expensive; you're looking at about a quarter of the price of mined diamonds, so it really brings the cost down.' Tubridy is, of course, famously aware of the environment, having ditched his car for a nifty scooter to run around town many years ago. Tubridy and Galway-born psychologist Ms Kambamettu have been dating for over four years now. Clare Kambamettu and Ryan Tubridy. Pic:for The Irish Post The Irish Mail on Sunday was the first to reveal that Tubridy and Ms Kambamettu had begun a relationship after meeting while she was a guest on his former RTE radio show. Now, years on, and with Tubridy landing a new gig on Virgin radio in the UK, he has given Ms Kambamettu a forever rock in the form of a specially designed engagement ring. On Monday, O'Dalaigh Jewellers in Clifden scooped Tubridy's big news, revealing on their business Facebook page that he had bought the ring for a 'very special lady'. The post was accompanied by a photo of the jeweller, Tubridy and Kambamettu posing together outside the store. Speaking on his radio show, the presenter said that he had some news to share 'that I was kind of keeping a little bit to myself and to ourselves'. He said that while he likes to remain private, 'the cat has been removed from the bag for a number of different reasons'. 'I'm very, very, very happy to confirm that I did indeed get engaged to my partner Clare on Thursday evening in the west of Ireland, and it is a very beautiful feeling.' Tubridy said he had 'got a beautiful ring organised and the weather was gorgeous'.
