Ryan Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly says the scandal around the star’s undisclosed payments has attracted “horrendous abuse” to him and Mr Tubridy's family.
The talent agent and the former Late Late Show are being grilled by Oireachtas committees over the payments scandal.
A defiant Mr Kelly said Mr Tubridy was being made a “poster boy” for the scandal – but declared “this is the RTE scandal”.
FOLLOW LIVE: Updates and watch our live stream
He told the Oireachtas: “Ryan and I have attracted and our families and our friends a horrendous, horrendous amount of criticism and abuse in the past few weeks and I would not wish it on anybody. Why? because the only figure in this whole story whose face was recognisable was Ryan Tubridy.
“He's been made a poster boy for this scandal. And that's undeserved. This is not the Ryan Tubridy scandal. This is the RTE scandal.”
Mr Tubridy said the last three weeks have been "beyond difficult" as he explained why documents to the committee were delayed and weren't given to the Oireachtas until 8.30am on Tuesday.
He said: "The last three weeks have been beyond difficult. We wanted to get things right today because so many people have been getting things wrong. Hence we were working on this... we were burning the midnight oil."
Mr Tubridy went on to tell members he wants to get back on the airwaves "as soon as possible".
Follow the latest updates in our live blog.
