Seán Fleming (Laois, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I have been considering this matter since the last meeting. I have submitted a series of parliamentary questions relating to RTÉ's funding, the public service obligation, its standing as a commercial semi-State entity on the State balance sheet and so on. What concerned me most of all last week was that when we asked the Secretary General about the service level agreement, he did not know and came back about it. I had submitted a parliamentary question about that, which we produced over the lunch break. The Secretary General then said, and I am paraphrasing, that a circular was issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform in 2016 saying that an oversight agreement should be in place. I have the circular and have made sure that members have received it in their correspondence. It is the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies from August 2016. It stated that Government Departments should ensure they have a written oversight agreement with State bodies under their aegis to clearly define the terms of the State body's relationship with the relevant Minister or parent Department.

Some 15 months after that circular was issued by the Department of Public Expenditure and Reform, the Secretary General does not have it in place. I will be adding to why RTÉ needs to come in the failure of the Accounting Officer to have the oversight agreement, as specified in public policy, in place. If he had an adequate service level agreement that he could bring in and prove to us that everything was kosher, it would be fine, but he has not done his job 15 months afterwards and does not have an oversight agreement. The failure of the Accounting Officer to comply with Government regulation leaves us no option but to do his job.