Imelda Munster (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Since the Minister's bizarre decision on Thursday to appear on "Prime Time", her actions and the resignation of Siún Ní Raghallaigh have dominated the news cycle. It is clear the Minister should not have done that interview. Yesterday, at the media committee, she admitted she had been aware the then chair was threatening to resign, yet she went ahead with that interview. In fact, the then chair had indicated she would resign if a letter were sent, and the Minister sent that letter on Thursday evening. Her advisers then tipped off "Prime Time" that there was breaking news and that she would be willing to answer questions about it. I am not sure whether this shows a shocking lack of judgment on the Minister’s part or whether this was a set-up to remove Siún Ní Raghallaigh. I just struggle to accept the Minister could be that incompetent.

I also struggle to believe the Minister did not expect the interviewer to ask whether she had confidence in the then chair. It was extremely disrespectful to the chair and amounted to an on-air dismissal. Even if she had felt the information she was receiving from the then chair was incomplete or inaccurate, her defence that it would have been wrong to cancel the interview just does not hold water with anybody. That is no way to conduct business, especially given the sensitivities of the situation at RTÉ and the need to steady the ship. Instead of steadying the ship, the Minister threw in a grenade.

Since taking office, the Minister has adopted a hands-off approach to her brief. Rather than spending time discussing this mess, I would much rather she engaged with her brief and answered questions about important issues such as bogus self-employment at RTÉ, or finally made a decision on the licence fee. She cannot be an effective Minister by ignoring parts of her brief that are tricky. I have lost count of the number of times and ways I have tried to raise with the Minister bogus self-employment at RTÉ, and each time the question is ruled out of order. What will it take for her to accept responsibility for this? An enormous bill is coming down the line and we need to plan for how to pay for it.

It does not stop there, of course. When is the Minister going to make a decision on the licence fee? The Future of Media Commission cost the taxpayer more than €500,000. It carried out thorough research and made a recommendation to fund public service media through the Exchequer. The Minister stated she agreed with the commission's recommendation. Two years later, therefore, why has she not implemented it? Is it still sitting on the shelf gathering dust? Is the Minister being overruled by Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael or has she just not made a decision? Which is it? When will she make a decision as to whether to scrap the licence fee, by which I mean will it be in weeks or months, rather than kicking it further down the road? Speaking of not making decisions, when does she intend to make a decision on bringing RTÉ under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the public accounts committee? Will she make a commitment, if that is her belief, that she will support the Sinn Féin Bill on this, which passed First Stage yesterday?

Deputy Martin is the Minister, at the end of the day. She needs to start making those decisions, given the crisis we have come through, and if she is being blocked in making those decisions by her Government colleagues, she needs to be upfront and tell us that. Both the public and the staff at RTÉ deserve a hell of a lot better than what they are getting from her at the moment.

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