Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I hope you do, but you do not understand the people and the anger out there about this mess, which affects 13,000 people who were brought to court to be prosecuted for not paying the licence fee.

The content on RTÉ has deteriorated rapidly in the last ten years. I have been saying this at committees and to the Ministers who were in this position before. I support all of the staff, from the man in the cabin who we meet going in the gate, to the make-up artists, the researchers and all of those good people and ordinary correspondents. The issue is the carry-on at the top and the Minister's reluctance and inability to deal with it. Her response is to commission this report and that report, and we will have all the reports in the world and all the questions coming back. We need basic transparency. I serve on boards and I know there has to be accountability. Dee Forbes rides off into the sunset, as do many others. Then they bring in Mr. Bakhurst even though he was out of that stable before. What is going on? Does the Minister think the people are complete clowns? They might watch comedy but they do not want to have comedians made out of them. “He who pays the piper calls the tune” is the old seanfhocal. What is going on is not acceptable.

As regards the motion, I do not know where the Sinn Féin Members are. For 30 years, they were locked out of RTÉ and due to section 31, they were not let in. Now, they are on it morning, noon, evening and night, and even when we are in bed, they are on it. They are being cosied up to for the next Government and we can see that quite clearly. This is hollow. We can see the carry-on, the shenanigans and the inability and reluctance of the Government to deal with it. We need a proper investigation from outside the country, which I looked for, but the Minister would not do that because she wanted reports in order to keep friendly with them. They will give all the narrative and if anybody is not 100% the same or has any other narrative, they are far right, loony left or something else. It is shocking what is going on but the people can see through it; as plain as day, they can see what is going on. It is deception.

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