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Ryan Tubridy has praised his former Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin as “incredible” for speaking out about his ordeal with UCD bullying.
Dr Ní Shúilleabháin revealed how she had been regularly harassed by a university professor, Hans-Benjamin Braun, over a period of two years, and told the Irish Times over the weekend that he had left her living with fear.
Tubs, who dated the former Rose of Tralee winner from 2009 to 2014, said her ex showed “tremendous courage” and generosity to others by opening up about her story.
Speaking on his show on RTE Radio 1 on Monday morning, he said: “It was amazing to see Aoibhinn Ní Shúilleabháin come out for the weekend in his interview with Una Mullally and talk about the harassment in college at UCD, describing a terrible experience two years there.
(Image: Collins Photo Agency)
“[She was] harassed by a colleague who she describes as a horrible experience.
“And moving forward like this requires enormous courage.
“And I would also say that great generosity is needed because you have to be very generous with yourself, with your family and your privacy.”
She continued, “It’s generous to those who are going to college now after hearing about this, reading about it, and they may avoid the same experience because of what she did.
“So congratulations of course to her.” Aoibhinn, an adjunct professor at UCD’s School of Mathematics and Statistics, said she made the decision to speak about her experience to draw attention to the harassment of female university students and students on college campuses in Ireland.
(Image: RTE)
He has since confirmed that he has received a written apology from UCD President Professor Andrew Deeks and will speak to him about the matter this week.
Ryan, who is the father of two daughters, Ella, 21, and Julia, 15, believes his story will have a huge impact on women who work and attend college in the future.
He said: “And as a direct result of that, you may have seen the minister, Simon Harris, responding to Aoibhinn’s story and saying that it is time to approach this properly.
“He said that she shouldn’t have had to put up with what she endured and that we need to make sure it never happens again.
He added that he has written to the rector of all universities and higher education institutions in the country asking them to draw up an action plan to confront violence, harassment and all these things and with good reason.
“So it was a difficult thing to do, but it was always done in a dignified way, which is a mark of Aoibhinn herself.
“Well done for her, it was important what she did, I think for many people in the future.” His comments came after he revealed Irish Women in Harmony’s poignant rendition of The Cranberries Dreams song on the Late Late Show on Friday night and raised significant funds for Safe Ireland, the national social change agency that works for end domestic abuse and coercive control in Ireland.
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