Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Inné, nochtadh arís cultúr na teidlíochta in RTÉ. Thug an ard-stiúrthóir le fios go raibh pacáiste fágtha de €450,000 tugtha don iar-phríomhoifigeach airgeadais, Breda O'Keeffe. Tá sé soiléir anois nach bhfuil muinín ag an phobal as an chraoltóir seirbhíse poiblí a thuilleadh agus níl consias ná freagracht ann.

Once again we see the culture of entitlement, at RTÉ. It was unveiled for all of us to see before the Oireachtas media committee yesterday. The new director general, Kevin Bakhurst, confirmed that RTÉ's former chief financial officer, Breda O'Keeffe, walked away from her job with a €450,000 redundancy package, except this was not a redundancy package because her job was never eliminated. Furthermore, that package was not signed off by RTÉ's executive board, as required. Instead, it was cooked up between Ms O'Keeffe and the former director general, Dee Forbes.

This was a golden handshake to the value of ten times the average salary in the State cooked up behind closed doors, with no sign off, no tax paid and no disclosure until yesterday. You could not make it up. It is damning. People are sick to their back teeth of what is going on and what has gone on in RTÉ.

We also learned that there were others involved. Rory Coveney resigned just last year from RTÉ. We are told he was the driving force behind the fiasco that was Toy Show TheMusical, which lost €2.2 million of taxpayers' money. Yet he gets a secret golden handshake at the taxpayers' expense. We do not know the details of this. Does the Tánaiste? If not, will the Government demand this information from RTÉ? How many others have received secret golden handshakes in the last period? Is it any wonder that compliance with payment of the TV licence has fallen off a cliff? This is because the public have lost confidence in the governance of the public sector broadcaster. This is a very dangerous place to be.

The State and its citizens rely on RTÉ to hold those in power to account and for trusted, reliable news and current affairs coverage. It cannot fulfil its obligations if there is no accountability. That is what is missing here.

The Tánaiste said he supports the measure that those who have not paid their TV licence be dragged before the courts and be jailed if needs be. There are now more than 300,000 households that have not paid their TV licences. However, the executives in RTÉ can walk away into the sunset with €450,000 in their back pockets and what? There is no accountability and there are no consequences.

In any other workplace, a person who walks off the job and quits only gets what he or she is entitled to, no more, no less. People are not even entitled to social welfare payments for a period. However, an RTÉ executive can walk off the job and receive €450,000 of taxpayers' money. It is a joke and people are demanding accountability. It is one rule for the privileged and another for ordinary workers. Yet we have heard from the Tánaiste - I am sure we will hear it again - and from the Taoiseach and from the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, who all say there will be accountability. We have seen no accountability in the past eight months. We were told that the process of accountability in RTÉ had begun. Is there accountability when those centrally involved in a financial scandal that has brought RTÉ into disrepute are able to walk off into the sunset with undisclosed exit packages that it seems they were not contractually entitled to? When will there be consequences for those who have breached the public trust and for those who played fast and loose with taxpayers' money? That is what ordinary people the length and breadth of this State are asking. Does the Tánaiste support Sinn Féin's calls for the full details of the process that led to these secret redundancy packages and golden handshakes, including those made to Rory Coveney and whoever else got them, to be made public as a matter of urgency? Crucially, and above all else, when will there be accountability? That is what people demand.

See this speech in context