According to the 2023 Houses of the Oireachtas Commission Annual Report, the 43.07 million minutes of live-streaming in 2023 was a significant increase from the 20 million minutes in 2022, representing a 115% rise.

The RTÉ scandal involving covert payments to the former Late Late Show presenter peaked last July during Tubridy’s appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) and Media Committees at Leinster House.

The report highlights that the 43 million minutes of live-streaming for 2023 on the Oireachtas website, app, and social media accounts included a record daily consumption of 8.8 million minutes on July 11, 2023.

On that day, Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly appeared before the PAC and Media Committees, resulting in a 303-fold increase in viewing figures for a PAC hearing compared to normal levels. These figures only account for internet streaming and exclude viewers on the RTÉ News Now Channels.

In addition to Tubridy’s appearance, RTÉ executives also appeared before Oireachtas Committees last year, facing scrutiny from TDs and Senators. The annual report attributes the substantial increase in Oireachtas Committee viewing figures to the RTÉ controversy.

The report notes that "due to exceptional public interest in seven committee meetings involving representatives from RTÉ, the live-streaming figures for Oireachtas Committees more than doubled in 2023.”

Meetings took place on June 28, June 29, July 5, July 11, July 13, and September 13. Mainstream media websites also embedded live streams of these committee meetings, further increasing their reach and viewership.

A graph in the report shows that Oireachtas TV live-streaming minutes rose from just under 10 million to around 15 million, while live-streaming minutes for Oireachtas Committee broadcasts increased from between 5 million and 10 million to between 15 million and 20 million in 2023.

Tubridy’s high-profile appearances, along with those of his RTÉ colleagues, also contributed to a 56% increase in overall website traffic to oireachtas.ie, with visits rising from 1.4 million to 2.19 million in 2023.

The 2023 expenditure on the Oireachtas TV service, which broadcast these appearances, totalled €3.63 million, a 7% increase from the 2022 spend of €3.4 million. The Commission had budgeted €4.5 million for 2023, but an underspend of €871,000 occurred due to the deferral of a specific project to 2024.

The report states that "overall, there were over 1,030 hours of live broadcasting of Oireachtas proceedings in 2023, and over 1,266 hours of original Oireachtas TV content broadcast. Replay of Committee proceedings made up 34% of total Oireachtas TV airtime in 2023.”