Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent) | Oireachtas source

I am sharing time with Deputy Joan Collins.

I agree with Deputy Mattie McGrath regarding the report he raised, our failure to deal with it in the Dáil and the length of time we are forced to give to this topic because of the utter failure of governance. In the meantime, 15-, 16- and 17-year-olds are being collected in taxis and subjected to sexual abuse in hotels, and the hotels have expressed concern. We have never discussed that in this Dáil.

In respect of the matter before us, I welcome the Minister's detailed contribution and her acknowledgement that there have been serious corporate failings. I disagree they have come to light only in the past two weeks, given there was ample evidence before that within the organisation. It would seem from an article in The Sunday Timesthat serious questions were being asked in 2022, if not before, so something is wrong somewhere with the reporting mechanisms.

I appreciate the fact the Minister will set up two reviews and appoint a forensic accountant. The first review will relate to governance and culture, while the second will concern contractors' fees, HR and other matters. The Minister has been clear about that, but there is no timeline for the reports. When can we expect these reports from the two committees? It is essential information. Similarly, a forensic accountant will come in but we have no idea of when they will report either. This is, of course, on top of the other report that is already being carried out by Grant Thornton, and another report is due. That is five reports, on top of the work of the media committee and the Committee of Public Accounts, and we seem to be nowhere nearer finding out what has happened.

I will not go into the minutiae of this. The Minister has appointed the committees and the forensic accountant, subject to the Minister giving us the time limits. The committees are doing their work on the minutiae and I hope this matter will be brought to a relatively speedy conclusion. We need public service broadcasting and we need it adequately funded if we are to have a democracy that means anything. Without a publicly-funded public service broadcaster we are in serious trouble. Here we are now looking at something that should not have happened but I do not think it is unusual. I spent four years on the Oireachtas Committee of Public Accounts. I am on record as saying, with regard to university education, that I was singularly unimpressed by the presidents of the universities who came before us, as I was by Bord na gCon, by Horse Racing Ireland, and by some of the voluntary education committees, VECs. There was a theme permeating the whole lot, which was to give as little information as they could and get away with as much as they could.

The obvious questions include how something can be labelled as consultancy fees. Why did RTÉ underwrite an agreement between Mr. Tubridy and a commercial entity? What is the status of the register of interest? There was the use of private agents for a number of the stars but I always had a problem with that description. It was brought to my attention today that in 2018, when I was a member of the Committee of Public Accounts, RTÉ came before the committee and we thanked them on that day for coming before us because they were not obliged to come before us. I asked the Comptroller and Auditor General as to why this was. Helpfully, a briefing paper was given to us at that stage. RTÉ was subject to audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General until 1990, under statutory provisions introduced in 1966. I will not go into the Broadcasting Act 1990, but it was under the remit until 1990 and then it was taken out of the remit. Significantly, in 1993 the Comptroller and Auditor General (Amendment) Act extended the mandate of the Comptroller and Auditor General, but specifically excluded commercial bodies, including RTÉ. Each Government has been responsible for what has happened here with RTÉ in utterly failing to deal with adequate funding for RTÉ and failing to recognise the importance of it. On top of that, we had a White Paper that told us why we could not have oversight by the Comptroller and Auditor General. From 1992 onwards we were repeatedly told by various Governments and policy that oversight was not good by a Comptroller and Auditor General, and particularly when we were talking about a commercial outfit or part of a commercial outlet.

I do not seek to demonise any individual here. The system has utterly failed and now we have five entities going to look at it. All along, each Government has actually actively colluded with that system, where RTÉ was forced to look at going in a commercial manner for money.

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