Michael Collins (Cork South West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

As the RTÉ scandal gets deeper and darker, one aspect becomes clear, which is that RTÉ is a financial basket case that has been poorly operated and controlled from a corporate governance perspective. The organisation's top brass seems to have a cavalier outlook on providing anyone, including the Oireachtas, with the truth, yet the truth is what we seek. After all, for the period from 2020 to April 2022 alone, total TV licence and Exchequer revenue provided by taxpayers to RTÉ amounted to €456.8 million, with the organisation's financial accounts showing that over 60% of RTÉ's income now comes from the taxpayer. This year, RTÉ will receive €200 million from the taxpayer, yet we are in the dark as to whether this organisation uses this money in a transparent and accountable manner.

The flamboyant way in which RTÉ is able to blow taxpayers' money is very like the dishonest way it treated a landowner in Rosscarbery in west Cork. He allowed RTÉ to have a mast on his own, registered ground to provide a service to the people of Rosscarbery and its surrounds, since they had no service. When the landowner saw that RTÉ then set up its masts and added a Vodafone mast for its own profit, he inquired about why RTÉ did not ask the farmer, the real landowner, for his consent. RTÉ bullied this landowner and went for squatter's rights. With the might of the taxpayers' money, RTÉ took on the real landowner, who just wanted to talk and work out a solution. This is another scandal where heads should roll. Money is pegged to the wealthy with a nod and a wink and the landowner on the ground, who provides a service to his large community, is screwed. When RTÉ is having its post mortem, I hope it is from top to bottom. As people countrywide know, many politicians who call into RTÉ's top programmes are nod and wink politicians, while others who have honest questions are squeezed out.

The lack of honesty, transparency and co-operation displayed by RTÉ executives during the committee hearings suggests the involvement of the fraud squad is necessary to uncover the truth. Compliance with the code of practice on the governance of State bodies and other relevant laws and Acts is essential for RTÉ. Failure to adhere to these standards raises serious concerns.

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