Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

Like everyone else, I have been shocked at everything that has been revealed about our national public service broadcaster. Trust has been absolutely shattered. This is really serious because of the value of public service broadcasting to democracy and to society. That is why I moved very quickly to set up two external examinations. I took that action immediately upon these issues coming to light. Within two days of that first statement from RTÉ, I met with the chair of the board and announced an independent review of governance structures and organisational cultures within RTÉ to determine the systemic issues that needed to be addressed but to also look to the future and consider internal controls, which were simply inadequate and which had failed, and to make recommendations for the future. I felt it really important that these be independent investigations to help with restoring trust. In my engagement with staff and trade unions in the following days, I heard their concerns and realised that the examination had to be widened to look at HR issues and at how external contractors are engaged and how fees are paid to them. It became a much broader issue. The committees did invaluable work too.