BROADCASTER RYAN TUBRIDY has said he would be “a lot more attentive” to his contracts and finances if he could change the past.

Speaking on RTÉ’s Sunday with Miriam programme today, Tubridy said his biggest regret from his time with the national broadcaster was that he did not flag irregularities between his pay and what was being publicly reported.

The former Late Late Show host stepped away from RTÉ after it emerged the broadcaster had overpaid him by more than €345,000 and had incorrectly reported his earnings to the public for several years, plunging the organisation into crisis.

“The real thing I messed up on is that I did not step up in 2020 and correct incorrect salary statements that were published then,” he said this morning.

“I should have gone and looked at the number and said ‘that doesn’t tally’, and I should have stood up and said ‘that’s not right’. That was definitely my bad and I regret that.”

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He said he was a brick in a “wall of scandal” around RTÉ at the time.

“The rest of it, as Mr Bakhurt said, was on RTÉ, and I think that’s fair.”

Speaking to RTÉ’s Miriam O’Callaghan, Tubridy also said he thinks director general of the broadcaster Kevin Bakhurst possibly did him a favour when he released him from his contract.

“I think he might have done me a favour, releasing me from RTÉ. I’ve had a very different life since then – London, new opportunities, new friends, new places to be, time to breathe,” he said.

Speaking about the aftermath of the pay scandal, Tubridy said he “tried to do everything right”.

“I went to the Oireachtas, I sat there for three hours. I answered every question as honestly as humanly possible.”

He also highlighted that he repaid €150,000 to RTÉ, though he was not required to do so legally.