Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Like most people, I have watched the RTÉ crisis with dismay and disappointment. Unlike most people, I had a sneak preview of how the public duty of the national broadcaster was at complete odds with its commercial devotion to its advertisers and sponsors. At a meeting of the Joint Committee on Environment and Climate Action last December, RTÉ did not seem to be able to join the dots on how it was covering the climate crisis, on the one hand, while accepting sponsorship and advertisements from car manufacturers, including manufacturers of SUVs and other polluters that are causing the crisis, in its commercial life. For RTÉ, these were separate worlds.

The organisation is leading a double life. In one life, RTÉ can arrive at the Oireachtas pleading poverty, while in another life it pampers a presenter and gives in to his agent. In so doing, it was risking the past, present and future of the national broadcaster for demands for "more". The "more" that is needed from RTÉ, what is missing from the organisation, is more accountability, more responsible communication, more interrogation of positions, more caution with public money, more responsibility for that money and more preparedness in its public relations plan and crisis management. I would also like more State sponsorship and support being given to local radio stations, such as Kfm in Kildare. There is life outside Dublin. Earlier, I heard Deputy Munster speaking about how RTÉ wined and dined 70 people, including some RTÉ staff, in the K Club with golf, drinks and goodie bags. I saw an example of true public service broadcasting while I was on air on Kfm. The station rejected the attempted interference of a nursing home advertiser in the coverage of a HIQA report I had been interrogating on air. This was a far cry from the RTÉ executives who were before the climate committee last December.

There should be much more for the actual talent in RTÉ, including, as highlighted by Emma O'Kelly, the women on maternity leave in the station who were not paid, the people left hanging with precarious work and zero-hours contracts, never mind the bogus self-employment, while stars are cajoled, minded, buffed and babied. There is more to come, and I am glad the Government has taken Deputy Doherty's advice and is sending in forensic accountants. For now, RTÉ must really think about public duty and not stars, agents or commercials. There must be no more double life; the public service must come first.

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