Catherine Martin announces review into governance and culture at RTÉ

Government Minister Catherine Martin, T.D., has announced that she intends to set up a review into the governance and culture at RTÉ in light of the recent scandals at the national broadcaster.

The scandal, which started last Thursday when the details of Ryan Tubridy’s payments were released to the media following an audit, has led to the resignation of Director General Dee Forbes, with Forbes facing calls to appear before an Oireachtas committee.

In a statement released at Tuesday lunchtime, the Minister said the issue was discussed at the weekly Cabinet meeting, and  the Minister’s Department will consult with stakeholders, including the NUJ, before the Terms of Reference are finalised, with the finalised Terms of Reference to Government in the coming days.

The statement from the Minister stated that that the review would address a range of issues including:

• whether RTÉ’s governance framework is fit for purpose and is in line with best governance practice in Commercial State Bodies, taking account of broadcasting legislation, and the Code of Practice for the Governance of State Bodies requirements
• the findings from the Grant Thornton reviews commissioned by RTÉ in relation to both the 2021-2022 overpayments (now complete) and 2017-2019 period (about to commence) and what specific governance issues need to be addressed arising from these reviews;
• The organisational culture and its impact on levels of trust, governance, transparency and communications and on changes which should be made;
• Examine how the commercial element of RTÉ’s operations impacts on its public service remit.

Minister Martin said “RTÉ and public service broadcasting have been badly damaged by the revelations in recent days, and Government is moving quickly to finalise the terms of this independent external review.”

“It is vitally important that we get this right as we need to restore public confidence in RTÉ,” she added.

“My Department will be engaging with key stakeholders in the coming days, in order to finalise the Terms of Reference. In the meantime, I have asked RTÉ to ensure there is full cooperation with any Oireachtas hearings and that outstanding questions in the public interest are answered comprehensively.”

The Minister wrote “this morning I wrote to the RTÉ chair to set out my expectation that the further statement to be released by RTÉ today will address key questions that need to be answered- in particular, the public wants to know who signed off on the payments, who else was involved or aware of these transactions, and when will the further Grant Thornton report commissioned by RTÉ which relates to the understatement of the remuneration of RTÉ’s top paid presenter by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019 be completed. 

“At times of crisis, it is the failure to put all information on the record at the earliest possible juncture that does most damage. RTÉ must not now squander this opportunity to share everything that they know on this matter, in advance of the Oireachtas hearings later this week.”