Catherine Murphy (Kildare North, Social Democrats) | Oireachtas source

There is no doubt that Kevin Bakhurst and Siún Ní Raghallaigh faced significant issues that predated their appointments. The hope was that major reforms would happen to address the issues that initially arose about the earnings of Ryan Tubridy but which revealed many other issues since last April. Two of the reports initiated by RTÉ have revealed additional information on which much debate has ensued. They were published in January. Two further reports were initiated by the Minister, Deputy Martin, which will no doubt open up a further debate before we get to the end of this process where the fog will not properly clear.

The last thing we needed was another incendiary device thrown into an already difficult situation. From what I could see when she came before the Committee on Public Accounts, Siún Ní Raghallaigh was refreshingly candid. She was a source of confidence that the necessary reforms would be implemented and that we were in a new era. The fact that Ms Ní Raghallaigh has tendered her resignation in a manner she felt forced to do is therefore regrettable.

I find it astonishing that there is no written record in the Department with respect to termination deals. That is basic stuff that should have been provided in the circumstances. Instead there seems to have been a reliance on phone calls and side chats. How can that be acceptable to the Minister? I expected the Minister would insist on a paper trail, particularly following the changes initiated in September whereby the remuneration committee had a specific function. I also expected the Minister would have a political nose for the further problems that would arise, including having a deepened curiosity about details rather than just seeking assurances. That does not appear to have happened at all. The reality is RTÉ cannot afford to stand still. While changes are being made, it seems the Minister is unable to initiate actions until reports are produced, even when obvious changes are needed in real time. I get the impression that the Minister is taking an arm's-length approach rather than a sleeves-up approach, which is what is necessary.

When the CFO exited RTÉ a mediator process was set up. There are obvious questions in a mediated process. What was the result of the mediation? The Minister should have insisted on having the conclusion of that. As for the exit of the head of strategy who was responsible for Toy Show The Musical, most people presumed, as had I, that this was a simple resignation given the financial fiasco that was Toy Show The Musical. However, a large exit package was paid. It is unforgivable that there is no written record to the Department and that it was not insisted upon. Such things are basic practice. The issue of severance packages and their relationship with the two redundancy programmes was interrogated at the Committee of Public Accounts. The director general undertook to investigate those properly. That is where the McCann Fitzgerald report came in, which was published in January. Ten cases did not comply nor satisfy the requirements of what a redundancy should mean. In the case of the former CFO, Ms O'Keeffe, there was no savings to the broadcaster. Yet, the second business case does not appear to have been done even when it became obvious that there would be no savings made. While some of that pre-dates last April, when some of this information came into public light, the size of the payout was breathtaking. It is rounded down to €400,000 from €450,000. The €50,000 did not seem to matter but yet, RTÉ was repeatedly told us it was cash-strapped.

Ms Forbes assumed an incredible amount of power to herself. It is frustrating that some people have not been able to make themselves available for some committee hearings and reports. Ms Forbes would be key in that regard and if anything, that elongates the process. That is all the more reason there needs to be a hands-on approach.

While there might be better oversight, there was an expectation that there would be an end to large payouts given the precarious position RTÉ is in and the number of people who will lose their jobs at the station. That is why it is so important to have a hands-on approach and a written record of what happened. Had the issue about Ryan Tubridy’s earnings not emerged, it is not obvious whether the information regarding the extent of the losses on Toy Show The Musicalwould ever have been known. I raised this issue at the Committee of Public Accounts in December 2022, in real time, when the show was still going on. It was obvious that it was going to be a financial failure. Instead of the business case, RTÉ gave us a reply outlining the business processes but not the business case. There was a series of huge failures, which is all the more reason to take a hands-on approach.

What is needed now is an assurance that there is going to be a change in the Minister's approach. I do not believe we need to wait until reports are produced. They are important reports about culture and so on but there is no reason to prevaricate about changing the law in regard to the Comptroller and Auditor General being the auditor, which goes beyond just simple auditing and will bring oversight of controls and governance issues. It seems self-evident to act on that at this stage. Everybody is saying it. I have been saying it since last summer. We need to be fully assured that the many failures exposed since last April are fully addressed and that there is an end to the two-tiered culture within the organisation where there is a sense of entitlement at the top. That culture does not appear to be gone when we see some of these payouts.

More than ever, in an era of misinformation and disinformation, there is a need for reliable news and information mainly in relation to social media. In her opening remarks, the Minister talked about the Future of Media Commission. I was quite critical at the time that the terms of reference did not properly include social media for consideration, given the amount of advertising revenue that has been diverted away from both broadcasting and print media and where social media rebroadcast stories and other broadcast material on their platforms without having to pay for those. It should have been self-evident that we need to look at that. We are looking at something that is being future-proofed. That should have come into the equation in regard to the funding of public service broadcasting.

Each time Ms Forbes came before the Committee of Public Accounts, she held out the begging bowl.

There were also the Eversheds reports and other things we have talked about over the years at the Committee of Public Accounts. While it is more than regrettable that, due to her health, she was not able to appear and deal with those, there was an obvious conflict on her watch between the begging bowl and the scale of some of the salaries, the lavish exit packages, the behaviour with regard to spending around the barter accounts and the lack of any rigorous business case for ventures such as Toy Show The Musical. This all shows a reckless culture in the upper echelons of RTÉ that we need to be certain has ended.

The last thing we needed, given it was in fairly tenuous position anyway, was for it to have been completely derailed. The Minister had committed to going on “Prime Time” but there is a naïveté in her saying she did not expect to be asked if she had confidence. It was the obvious question a journalist was going to ask when the Minister was clearly showing she had serious issues. I do not think the Minister needs an adviser to tell her that question was going to be asked because it is self-evident. I find it incredible that the Minister would say she was not expecting that.

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