MINISTER FOR CULTURE Catherine Martin has said that the Government will foot the bill for an external review of RTÉ’s culture and governance which she hopes to secure Government approval for this week.
The Minister said that she believes that you “cannot put a price” on the “good” that having a transparent public broadcaster does for society, but added that the review will be “the best value possible”.
Martin is putting together a procurement process for an Expert Governance Group to oversee the review process, which she said she hopes can be “accelerated”.
The review will examine whether RTÉ’s governance framework is “fit for purpose” in light of secret payments made to the broadcaster’s top billed star Ryan Tubridy over the last few years.
The revelations have sparked outrage, as politicians are demanding to know who was involved in the agreement, and who knew about the pay arrangements and when.
Martin today said that she first heard about the issue in March, but that she didn’t bring it to the Taoiseach’s attention until last week, as she didn’t have the “full facts” until then, and didn’t want to go to him with “hearsay”.
Statement from Minister Catherine Martin on the external review that is being set up on RTE culture and governance - it seems the Government will be footing the bill for the review. pic.twitter.com/lK1znCtyzE
— Eimer McAuley (@eimer_mcauley) June 27, 2023
The Minister said she hopes that the review she is now seeking to commission as a matter of urgency will look at RTÉ pay arrangements going back as far as 2008.
She added that it could be six to seven months before the review is completed, and that there will possibly be an interim report in the meantime.
Martin said that she has not spoken to former director general of RTÉ Dee Forbes, but added that she believes that Forbes should appear before the media committee, and other oireachtas committees.
She said that in doing so Forbes, who has ruled out appearing before the committees on health grounds, could rebuild trust in the institution that she “says she has great respect for”.
When asked if other RTÉ officials involved in Tubridy’s pay arrangements should resign, Martin said that the first step will be for them to appear before committee.
“We have to wait to see what will be in the statement, I will be given those names in advance, those officials who are named in the statement should come before the committee and that is the first step,” she said.
Martin said that RTÉ executives could help to restore transparency in the broadcaster by making Patrick Kielty’s agreed salary for taking over as the presenter of the Late Late Show.
“The public wants to know who signed off on the payments, who else was involved or aware of these transactions, and when will the Grant Thornton report commissioned by RTÉ which relates to the understatement of the remuneration of RTÉ’s top paid presenter by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019 be completed,” she said.
At times of crisis, it is the failure to put all information on the record at the earliest possible juncture that does the most damage.
At leader’s questions this afternoon Taoiseach Leo Varadkar told Sinn Fein’s Pearse Doherty that he does not know why there is an ongoing delay in RTÉ making public information it has on payments made to Tubridy between 2017 and 2019.
Doherty said that the public will not have transparency after the RTÉ board releases a statement at 3pm.
“We shouldn’t need a Grant Thornton review, we should be able to hear from senior executives in RTÉ,” he said.
“You have the power to appoint a person into RTE to review those records and bring that information to light,” he added.
Varadkar said that he is”not entirely sure why we can’t get that information today” from RTÉ, but added that he will follow up on the matter.
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