Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

It is important to highlight as well is that at home, from speaking to people at the weekend, everybody is talking about it in their kitchens, in the supermarket and everywhere people go. Two messages really came through to me. The first is the outrage and the confusion at the public service broadcaster. Of all the organisations that know about holding people to account, this kind of drip-feed of information is quite surprising to most people. The other message that echoed was an appreciation for having public service broadcasting and the importance of it, especially today with misinformation online and so on. Crucially, there is also a new realised appreciation for the staff in RTÉ, most of whom are on modest wages and do an incredibly good job. Everybody is hoping for an end to this drip-feed of information.

In her initial statement last week about the scandal, Siún Ní Raghallaigh stated that it represented a serious breach of trust. We can all agree with that. However, that breach of trust has now been compounded because it is ongoing and it is doing immense damage because it is undermining further people's trust in the institution that its dedicated and modestly paid journalists and broadcasting staff worked so hard to build. How can public trust be restored if there is no accountability?

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