Forbes sends medical certificate to PAC, still unfit to testify

Former RTÉ boss Dee Forbes has sent a medical certificate to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee to say she is still unfit to appear before them.

The doctor’s note was provided to the committee by Forbes’ solicitor.

Forbes, who stepped down from the role of director-general at RTÉ just as the Ryan Tubridy scandal broke in late June, has not testified before the committee owing to illness.

The nature of Forbes’ illness has not been disclosed.

The Irish Mirror reported that PAC members considered taking legal action to force her to appear before them at a meeting they held behind closed doors on Tuesday, but decided against it.

It is understood that the PAC will wait until Forbes is fully fit and healthy before summoning her to testify.

Forbes’ role in the RTÉ scandal is one of the unanswered questions stemming from the RTÉ scandal that has gripped the nation since it broke in June.

Since then, RTÉ has been beset by a major financial crisis, requiring a Government bailout.

Earlier this week, it emerged that RTÉ plans to cut 400 jobs as part of cost-saving measures.

A PAC source told the Irish Mirror “this is the first time Miss Forbes has sent us a medical certificate that she is unwell and not medically fit enough to appear before us. We have to accept her doctor’s word that she is sick in good faith. Up until now they just sent us a letter saying she is ill.”

“We have been trying to get her to come before our Committee since she left RTÉ.”

“She has effectively been sick for over five months now and we do not know what is wrong with her. She has sent us a medical certificate and we have to respect that,” the source said.

Byrne Wallace Solicitors told the committee chair Fianna Fáil TD Niamh Smyth in June “our client is not fit to attend and participate in the Public Session Meeting of the Joint Committee on Tourism, Culture, Arts, Sport and Media.”

The letter read “it was with enormous difficulty and assistance that our client was able to piece the statement together.”

A letter from Forbes’ GP was provided to the committee “with the requirement that it be kept confidential,” and has since been followed up by a new letter.