Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I thank the representatives for attending. We all agree, and the public are of the opinion, that there has been a complete breakdown in corporate governance within RTÉ. Public confidence in how things are dealt with has gone down the chute and credibility has gone by the wayside. The public are of the opinion that it is all down to a select few of the top brass at RTÉ.

We are talking about secret payments of €345,000 that went undisclosed. One can understand why more than 200 staff members were protesting. Their anger was palpable. We now know from Dee Forbes's statement that the payments for 2020 and 2021 were negotiated over months with senior RTÉ executives in financial and legal positions. However, yesterday's RTÉ statement indicated it was only one person who really had all the information. It is clear it goes way beyond Dee Forbes. It was not only one person with all this information. That is not credible. The public will not swallow it and neither will we. To be honest, yesterday's statement leaves more questions than answers.

Dee Forbes said the reason for setting up the commercial top-up for Ryan Tubridy was to retain his services but she never explained why there was a need to hide those payments in the accounts. The first person I would like to ask a few questions of is the commercial director, Ms O'Leary. She had full knowledge of the secret deal when she was asked to raise the invoices in addition to the commercial top-up that were going to be hidden in the accounts. She negotiated the Renault side deal. She was the person who agreed with Ryan Tubridy's agent that the invoices would be paid through the barter account. She actually organised those payments through the barter account. Why?