Catherine Martin (Dublin Rathdown, Green Party) | Oireachtas source

-----but I did it clearly at the committee. I offered to furnish a detailed note on every conversation that occurred with the officials and chair on Thursday. I am happy to provide that and the committee will have it. I stated clearly the timeline of last Thursday’s communications with my Department and I offered to share with the committee the note taken of those communications.

I will meet the board this week. For that meeting, it has already been flagged that the focus will be on moving forward together. That is crucial and I look forward to the meeting. I have always had a focus on ensuring that the reforms are put in place. This is about more than just RTÉ, though. It is about putting public service media on a safe footing. I will move to appoint a new chair at the earliest possible time.

Deputies Murphy, Wynne, Kelly, Doherty and Munster, and possibly others, asked what I had done since this crisis emerged. As Minister, I have to respect the statutory independence of RTÉ, which is vital if people are to have confidence and trust in the impartiality of the public service broadcaster and in its operations being free from political interference. However, I have always said that establishing facts is important. We need to achieve a fundamental change and alter the rules of the game. That is what the past eight months have been about and what my focus has been on. I have set up the investigations, which will chart our way forward. These expert advisory committee reviews are independent and the only committees that will make recommendations. All of the other reports have fed into them. Most recently, I asked the DG to consider further how the question of severance packages was managed. The code of practice for these bodies states that any such agreement should be the exception rather than the norm, but it appears that it was the opposite way around. I have insisted that, if packages are necessary, then they must still be the exception. I have also asked the DG to consider capping any such packages, especially at the executive level. He has agreed to give this matter the serious consideration it deserves. I asked the DG to bring forward the strategic vision for RTÉ that he published in November. I have ensured secure and interim funding, which is required to provide security and certainty for the organisation, its staff and all the workers who depend on RTÉ.

It must be recognised that significant strides are being made towards reform and rebuilding trust. The Government and I, as Minister, will never be deflected from the prioritised task of delivering reform and being the first Government to deliver a long-term, working and sustainable model. It is essential to restore trust, accountability and confidence in the national broadcaster, even if that means taking difficult decisions. Not being transparent is not an option and would be a contravention of the Government’s repeated goal of doing all it can to ensure maximum transparency. In my opinion, maximum transparency is key to the reform.

In reply to Deputy Munster, the Department of Social Protection is continuing its scope investigation into the classification and potential reclassification of a group of contractors at RTÉ. As with other HR matters at RTÉ, neither my Department or I have any involvement in the process.

In reply to Deputy Murphy, I will wait for the reports of the expert advisory committees. I will not pre-empt more than seven months of incredible work on culture, governance, staff, HR matters and equality. That will only be a few weeks away and I will not pre-empt the decisions.

Regarding the governance framework, under the Broadcasting Act, my direct relationship with RTÉ is with the chair of the board. The code of practice for the governance of State bodies refers to areas where there is an obligation on the chairperson to keep the Minister informed. The Broadcasting Act requires the DG to furnish the board of the corporation with information on the performance of his or her functions as the board may require from time to time. It is clear that the chair provides me with information and the DG reports to the chair. To reiterate, the DG reports to the chair and the chair reports to me.

I wish to put on the record again that I believe the former chair was a genuine, committed and dedicated chair. Unfortunately, a situation emerged where I could not be confident that I was receiving accurate information. As I said many times yesterday, I do not believe that was intentional. I believe that she was the most genuine, dedicated and committed chair, especially under stressful circumstances over the past eight months, but a situation arose where I could not rely on information, and that is problematic when dealing with a crisis.

In response to Deputy Tóibín, the matter of the former Secretary General is quite plain and simple. She retired after decades of dedicated work as a civil servant.

I see my time is almost gone. Deputies Kelly, Doherty and others raised the role of the remuneration committee. The understanding in my Department, including as told to me by the chair last Wednesday, was that in future, severance packages would require board sign-off. The chair, who is the direct line of communication to me, said only last Wednesday that this would happen in the future. My understanding was that the severance package agreed in relation to Richard Collins was signed off at executive level. This is the important point. At no point was it clear to me or my officials that the board, through the RTÉ chair's role on the remuneration committee, had a role in approving the Richard Collins package. The receipt of incomplete documentation in early September, passing comments in an Oireachtas committee on 12 October after a three-month process comes to an end or the receipt of a further 19 corporate documents in December does not change that fundamental point. At no point did RTÉ make any attempt to bring to my attention, in the appropriate, formal channel, that the new system had applied to Richard Collins. While there may be differing recollections as to what might have been said in the telephone conversation or what might have been imagined to have been said, it is clear that RTÉ did not at any point put on the record that the remuneration board had signed off on the exit package.

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