Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

A question was asked earlier about whether or not RTÉ intends to establish a register of external interests and a register of participation in external events. RTÉ is, hopefully, about to undergo a process of forensic and deep reform. Tim Davie, when he was appointed director general of the BBC, which was going through similar but maybe not as difficult a challenge, said "Trust in our impartiality is not a nice to have, it is the very essence of who we are. It is the bedrock of why people come to us." Equally it is a bedrock of why people repeatedly come to RTÉ over and again to be able to trust that what they are hearing and seeing is impartially delivered. In response to the question about the register, Mr. Lynch said that RTÉ would consider this. I believe it is absolutely essential that RTÉ goes way beyond considering this and commits to putting such a register in place. It is not appropriate that individuals who have extraordinary power to shape public opinion, much more so than anybody sitting around this table, would have side deals going on. They may be perfectly legitimate from a legal perspective but from an impartiality perspective they are not acceptable. If such deals are ongoing and people are being paid handsome amounts of money above and beyond what they are being paid through their salary, the public needs to be aware of that in order to trust. I will ask that question again. Will RTÉ establish such a register?