Thomas Gould (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I commend Deputy Ó Snodaigh and Eoghan Finn in his office on their work on this Bill. The past seven days have seen more emerging scandals in RTÉ about confidential payments that could not be discussed, a lack of oversight, and the Minister in charge not being there to ensure it was being done properly. Anyone who has followed the scandals has found themselves deeply frustrated by a drip-feed of information. First, we cannot discuss these issues because they are confidential, then a minute later, the amount of money that a person got is revealed. There was no oversight from the board, then it emerged that there was oversight. The Minister did not know what was happening, then it turned out that her Department did know what was happening. This is just in seven days. If it was not so serious, it would be like a scene from Monty Python. What is happening here is unbelievable.

This Bill is to try to bring RTÉ under the Comptroller and Auditor General, a move that has been recognised by senior members of this Government as needed and would end the drip-feed. It would give real oversight to the public accounts committee to bring RTÉ from the dark ages into the light. These accounts have been hidden in the shadows and we need them to be looked at and open so that everyone knows. This Bill is a step forward. We now need honesty, openness and transparency. That is why I support this Bill.

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