Rónán Mullen (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I want to second what my friend and colleague Senator Malcolm Byrne said. I extend my sympathies to the family involved and, indeed, to the Canadian people. It is a scandal that this happened on our premier street. With the 250th anniversary of Daniel O'Connell's birth coming up next year, unless something is done, the best way we could honour him as things stand would be by taking his name of that street. This is an appalling state of affairs. We need a debate about the state of our country and what is going on with violence in particular.

I do not mean to be facetious when I quote from today's edition of The Spectator. I came across a rhyme with which the Leader will be somewhat familiar: "Joe and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water. Joe fell down and broke his crown and Jill said, 'No, he didn't'". What we are seeing, apart from the personal tragedy of the President of the Unites States, is the highest profile and highest level case of elder abuse in living memory. It used to be said of Soviet regimes that there would be mass cover-up at the demise of one of their leaders. However, what we have seen and now what everybody knows about over the past few years is a huge amount of dishonesty, not just within the US Administration but among the media and even in our own country. Only last Friday, I heard a senior Irish diplomat try to talk this way by talking about the President of the US not being good at sound bites. That might be putting on the green jersey, but you cannot put on the green jersey by pulling the wool over people's eyes.

Why is this significant? We need to be able to trust media internationally and in Ireland. They have not been trustworthy. In that context, and I note what Mr. Kevin Bakhurst, the director general of RTÉ, as he presented RTÉ'e five-year plan, had to say about the need for a strong and independent public service media. However, it also needs to be impartial. We have seen poor standards in our media when it comes to the impartial and unflinching reporting of all aspects of different issues. That has to change before people are going to trust RTÉ with their licence. I recall the fawning coverage of the Biden visit to this country last year, and it was not good public service media. Therefore, I want to see change before I entrust my euro to RTÉ and before we entrust Government money to RTÉ. We need serious moves to scrutinise not just responsibility in financial matters-----