Martin Browne (Tipperary, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ordinary workers and journalists at RTÉ, as well as the fee-paying public, all feel utterly betrayed when they hear of the slush funds and barter accounts in the golden circles at RTÉ. One of the main issues here is trust, a quality that features prominently on the RTÉ website. Trust has been lost and will be very difficult to regain. There must be serious changes going forward.

The top earners in RTÉ are paid too much in the first place. The argument that they must be paid obscene amounts to keep them in RTÉ has gone out the window. If they feel they can get these sums anywhere else, they should be told where the door is and asked to try to find it someplace else.

When cuts and savings are being made to secure finance going forward, it must not be the regular workers in RTÉ who bear the brunt of these changes in wage cuts and job losses. As the largest broadcaster in the country, RTÉ can outbid any competition. The sheer levels of pay it agreed speaks of how it was essentially bidding against itself.

It has become obvious from what we have seen so far that the sense of value for public money has been completely lost at the higher levels in RTÉ. Underwriting a commercial pay deal with a sponsor so that their highest paid presenter could have more money secretly funnelled to him while hoodwinking the public who are on the hook is an unforgivable example of this. No longer can we accept half-answers and hand-wringing about these issues. We need to know precisely who on the board and elsewhere was aware of secret payments and the misuse of funds. Denying any knowledge at this stage is not good enough. If there were gaps in knowledge on the part of highly paid officers at RTÉ, we need to know why and we must question whether they are doing their jobs properly.

RTÉ needs a root-and-branch reform of its insider culture and the people responsible must be held to account. Serious allegations have been made against Dee Forbes, especially concerning the claim that €75,000 in invoices were labelled as consultancy fees. The fact that the chief financial officer did not question this claim regarding consultancy services cannot be excused either. Also, Noel Kelly's influence in RTÉ must be examined, as must the issue of influence generally. This is a grey area that has emerged and light needs to be shed on it.

We must remember that RTÉ does not have a monopoly on the public service. What about our local radio stations, which, in large part, are the go-to broadcasters in our communities? Like the regular workers in RTÉ, their contributions are overlooked while some RTÉ presenters are being paid as though they have more value than the stations. RTÉ is at a turning point and a root-and-branch reform to the insider culture is needed. People need to be held to account and Dee Forbes must come before the Committee of Public Accounts to give clarity to the matter. We need to get to the nuts and bolts of how the board of directors could remain in place while all of this was going on. Ignorance can no longer be used as an excuse to evade transparency and accountability.

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