Eamon Dunphy admitted tonight that RTÉ were justified in their decision to suspend him from the station’s coverage of the World Cup.
In a statement this afternoon RTÉ said it suspended the soccer analyst as Mr Dunphy was unable to fulfill the terms of his contract. The station did not give further details on the suspension, nor did it say for how long Mr Dunphy was to be suspended.
In an interview on RTÉ's 9'o'clock News, Mr Dunphy said he had not been in a fit state to do his work this morning.
He admitted he had had "a few drinks" last night and was not able to "provide proper coverage" this morning. He said he owed RTÉ and the viewers an apology.
He said his state was "inexcusable" and that he had been working very hard.
Mr Dunphy appeared briefly on RTÉ's World Cup Liveprogramme this morning.
The soccer analyst had been strongly criticised after he announced his hope that Ireland would lose its match against Cameroon and Germany during the station's coverage of the matches.
Speaking during his analysis of the Republic of Ireland v Cameroon match last Saturday, he said he would hate for the Irish team to get through the group "and to come home covered in glory and for nobody to question the FAI".
"That's why I wanted them to lose against Cameroon today and that's why I want to see Germany beat them on Wednesday. Not because I want the players to do badly but because I want to see the game in this country given a chance to prosper."
About 1,300 viewers contacted the station to complain about Mr Dunphy’s comments.
Today he said the public reaction to his statements had not been nice. "We are not talking about life and death matters," he said.
The situation is to be reviewed when Mr Dunphy meets with RTÉ tomorrow.