Shane Cassells (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Let us get down to the influence of third-party agents in RTÉ and the construction of deals, the influence of one man who seems to have had more power than anyone else at the negotiating table - "the real DG", as he was nicknamed. On 19 December 2019, we have for the first time the references to the facilitation of this tripartite deal - Santa comes six days early for the boys. Why was RTÉ so afraid of a presenter and his agent, and had Mr. Lynch seen evidence of a higher offer? Was there someone else in the small Irish media market promising to pay him over half a million euro in order that one man was able to command effectively pay increases when everyone else was taking a decrease?