Government is not seeking ‘revenge’ in its response to RTE payment debacle – TD

Two Government representatives denied that widespread redundancies at the broadcaster are planned.

Members of staff from RTE take part in a protest at the broadcaster’s headquarters in Donnybrook, Dublin, in response to growing anger and a call for answers amid the spiralling controversy at the public service broadcaster (Niall Carson/PA) (PA Wire)

A Government TD has denied that the coalition could be seeking “revenge” against RTE amid an ongoing controversy around undeclared top-up payments and governance.

Government representatives have also denied reports in the Irish Mail On Sunday that there are plans within Cabinet to split the commercial and public service parts of the broadcaster and implement redundancies.

On Friday, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar had expressed concern that commercial and public money “all goes into the one pot”, suggesting that would no longer be appropriate.

Minister of State Ossian Smyth said redundancies are not being sought, while Fianna Fail TD Niamh Smyth, who is chairwoman of the media committee, said the government was not using the controversy at the broadcaster to enact revenge.

Ms Smyth also said that, having spoken to the Media Minister on Sunday morning on foot of the headlines, she is “sure that that is not the intention of the government” to implement redundancies or split up RTE.

“I’m pretty certain from speaking with the minister this morning, that is our intention: to protect the staff, to protect RTE, and when I say ‘protect RTE’ I mean protect that entity of public service broadcasting.”

She added: “I don’t think it’s revenge on anybody’s heart or mind in trying to sort out this in RTE.”

Ireland’s public service broadcaster has been embroiled in controversy since it revealed that it had underdeclared fees paid to highest-earner Ryan Tubridy over several years.

Most of the focus has been on two undeclared 75,000 euro payments made by RTE to Tubridy for the years 2021 and 2022, which were made after RTE reportedly underwrote the amounts due to Tubridy from Late Late Show sponsor Renault.

Political and media scrutiny has focused on why this guarantee was given, what level of governance and financial controls are in place at the broadcaster, and the use of a barter account used to pay the amounts, dubbed a “slush fund” by politicians and a former RTE chair.

RTE operates on a dual funding model, with 55% of its income, 200 million euro a year, brought in by way of the licence fee – which costs Irish households with a television 160 euro a year.

In recent years, RTE has emphasised a funding crisis at the broadcaster and called for reform of the licence fee, stating that millions were being lost annually by people evading the fee and using the RTE Player on phones and tablets.

Cabinet is due to meet on Tuesday and expected to approve Media Minister Catherine Martin’s proposal to launch an external review into RTE’s governance.

Mr Smyth said on RTE’s The Week In Politics that this process is expected to take a number of months, and would include interim reports.

Ms Martin is also due to meet with chairwoman of the RTE board Siun Ni Raghallaigh and incoming director general Kevin Bakhurst in the coming days to discuss is the external review, Mr Bakhurst’s plan to “reconstitute” the executive board and to engage with RTE staff.

The Oireachtas media committee has also invited former chairwoman of the RTE board Moya Doherty, ex director general Noel Curran, and former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe to answer TDs’ and Senators’ questions on Wednesday.

Speaking on Newstalk’s On the Record programme on Sunday, Niamh Smyth said they would try to find out what knowledge there was of these undeclared payments.

“The crux of this is about secret payments and the deception of that and I suppose the intended mechanism that was put in place to deceive, not just the public, but the government and the taxpayer, ultimately,” she said.

Ms Smyth said “it wasn’t lost” on committee members that no executive came to the committee last Wednesday with an opening statement, which is almost always used by witnesses to lay information before committees.

She said that Mr Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly would be invited before members once the work with the RTE board and executives had been completed, and said the invite to Ms Forbes “still stands”.

Time is also being set aside in the Dail on Tuesday afternoon to allow TDs to give statements about recent developments.