SENIOR RTÉ sources have said there was no official policy diktat from management not to comment on or address the findings of broadcaster Gerry Ryan's inquest last Friday.

However, the Sunday Tribune understands that a number of high-profile presenters and associates of the late DJ gave personal and private undertakings not to discuss the proceedings.

While some staff members pointed to the comprehensive news coverage of the coroner's court hearing – in which details of Ryan's cocaine use emerged – the consensus view was that individual friends and colleagues were reluctant to reflect on its findings.

On an official level, RTÉ refused to respond to requests for comment yesterday.

One well-placed source said that top presenters were not given any formal instruction, but even if there had been a policy of silence, it would have been unlikely to have attracted broad support.

"If there was any sense of management trying to protect themselves from criticism I don't think there would be much tolerance [among staff] for that," the source said.

Other explanations included a reluctance to "speak ill of the dead" and a sense that, with so much information having been revealed by the coroner, people were simply taking time to digest it before making their feelings known.

A number of sources said that the decision not to respond to last week's development was simply out of respect for Ryan's family.

Whatever the individual reasons, the lack of reaction from Montrose was in stark contrast to that in the immediate aftermath of Ryan's death last April.

Almost instantly, the Late Late Show's original line up was rejigged to make room for a panel of broadcasters and friends eager to share memories and reflect on his life.

Those same personalities were less eager to give their views yesterday once the memory of the popular broadcaster had been tainted by the revelation of drug use.