As Ryan Tubridy appeared before the Public Accounts Committee, pubs across Dublin featured Oireachtas TV on their big screens to the amusement and surprise of regulars.
Jim and Eileen Wrubel – on holidays in Ireland from Pittsburgh in the United States – dropped into Doheny & Nesbitt in Dublin city centre for a quick lunch and were surprised to see parliamentary proceedings on TV.
“We walked in and every eye is glued to the TV, so I Googled it and was instantly drawn into it,” said Jim.
“It was not in the slightest what we expected. We were expecting rugby or horse racing ... it’s a true vacation experience. My impression of the whole thing is that I love it – it’s quaint!”
His wife Eileen was puzzled by the whole spectacle and a controversy centred around €345,000 in earnings not being disclosed by RTÉ to its star presenter.
US politics was “just so bombastically out of scale” that she found it strange “to be sitting here in this pub and everyone is paying attention to a public administration hearing over a relatively small amount”, she said.
“It’s about public integrity with those funds and it’s really nice to see people engaged even at this level.”
Her husband was also startled by the scale of the money at stake.
“What’s the dollar amount? You can’t even buy a Supreme Court justice for that,” said Jim.
Across the bar, another customer reacted to the proceedings, saying to no one in particular: “Ah he knew – Tubridy had to know.”
Responding to the stranger, Jim Wrubel said: “I haven’t seen a head turn away from the TV.”
In another city centre pub, The Camden, the Tubridy PAC show was being broadcast on big television screens usually reserved for sports coverage.
“It is definitely a first for us,” Linda Monaghan, a manager at The Camden, said. “We are typically a sports bar and have the biggest Samsung 4K screen in Europe, so to show something like this is definitely a first.”
The bar received more than 100 calls the previous day from people asking whether they would be showing the PAC hearing.
“The general public has requested Tubridy over the Tour de France today,” said Jordan Kenna, sales and marketing co-ordinator for The Camden.
“Because it has gained so much attention over the last couple of weeks, I suppose it is important to show it on the TVs. We don’t usually get politically involved but I suppose that this is a once-off event.”
The screens may have been big but the crowd was tiny.
Shortly after opening, just one customer was in front of the big screen.
Emmett, a civil servant who works at a Government department in the city centre, heard about the planned coverage on social media and decided to pop in on his lunch break.
“It was going around on Instagram – a list of all the pubs showing the hearing – and I was like, ‘Sure, I have got nothing better to do at lunch so I may as well for the entertainment’,” said the State employee who did not want to give his surname but was happy to be photographed.
Longer term, he felt Tubridy could return to our screen more permanently once this controversy has passed.
“I would have no problem with Tubridy back on State television,” he said. “I don’t really blame him for RTÉ managing their accounts poorly.”