Pearse Doherty (Donegal, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

As I ask my next question, perhaps the former Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform might give the Taoiseach a note as to whether the monthly meetings involving his former Department were happening as part of the arrangement between the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, the Department of Public Expenditure, National Development Plan Delivery, and Reform, and RTÉ.

The Taoiseach has confidence in the executive and the executive board. They have come before Oireachtas committees and told lies. They told us there was only one barter account. They either did not know there were three or it was sheer incompetence. They either deliberately misled the committee or simply did not know. How can we have a chief financial officer, and how can we have confidence in a chief financial officer, who does not know the number of accounts under his stewardship? I ask the Taoiseach that question.

I agree completely that we need to build trust in RTÉ. Public broadcasting is absolutely crucial in this State and we need to build that up. The question is whether the executive team we have, which is drip-feeding information and is having to come before Oireachtas committees and correct the information provided in the past, the team that is going to lead us forward.

When the Taoiseach says there will be swift action from the chairperson, what does that mean? Does he believe there will be resignations from the executive as a result of the meetings between the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, and the chairperson of the board?

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