Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for raising this important matter again. The revelations from RTÉ last week are deeply unsettling and have shaken public trust in what is an important institution. We want to see trust restored quickly because we need to have a strong and effective public service broadcaster for our State. It is important once again to acknowledge that the vast majority of staff in RTÉ would have known nothing about this and certainly did not benefit from it in any way. The relevant Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, wrote to the chairperson of RTÉ to set out her expectation that any statement provided by the deputy director general would answer questions about who signed off on the payments of €75,000 and who else was aware of or involved in them. The Minister also asked for a timeline for the completion of the further Grant Thornton report into the understatement by RTÉ of the additional €120,000 paid between 2017 and 2019. RTÉ has provided an update to the effect that a further Grant Thornton review into the period from 2017 to 2019 will be concluded within four weeks. We do not believe that timeline is satisfactory and have asked that the report be provided more quickly. The Minister is engaging with RTÉ in that regard.

While the RTÉ statement from yesterday sheds some light on what has transpired, many questions remain open, so we expect to see full and open engagement at the Oireachtas committee meetings today and tomorrow. Certainly, we do not believe it is credible that the former director general, Dee Forbes, was the only person with knowledge of the events. The Government and public expect nothing but full and open transparency from RTÉ executives and board members when they attend meetings of committees of these Houses today and tomorrow.

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