The minister failed to ask the most basic questions on public money going towards exit packages
THE RTÉ saga that has played out on our screens and over the airwaves for the past eight months has exhausted us all.
From flip-flops to golden handshakes, the public are fed up of even trying to follow the crisis.
We all know the top lines: for too long there’s been an upstairs/ downstairs culture in the public broadcaster.
At a time when many RTÉ employees have been denied fair wages, pensions, holidays and maternity leave due to being trapped in bogus self-employment contracts, we see an exorbitant retirement payment signed off for the former chief financial officer.
It strikes me at this stage in the sorry saga that the continued cycle of self-destruction within RTÉ may be working well for the Government. It’s a useful distraction from the myriad failings that have marked the tenure of this Government’s coalition of convenience to date.
On Friday, the Department of Housing published figures showing appalling, record-breaking levels of homelessness – over 4000 children now without homes.
In November, we saw a breakdown of law and order on the Dublin streets.
Nurses and midwives continue to provide care to sick people on trolleys in overcrowded hospital corridors.
So the question is: could this Government be happy to allow the distraction of the RTÉ circus to continue? Is this Government happy to throw good public money after bad in an attempt to save political skins?
Media Minister Catherine Martin is certainly not helping to bring any stability to the situation.
In giving her extraordinary interview on last Thursday evening’s Prime Time – an interview which caused the forced resignation of the chairperson of the RTÉ board – the minister effectively plunged the national broadcaster into a devastating existential crisis.
This was a clear last-ditch attempt to take the heat off of her own failure to steer the ship effectively.
Until last Thursday, the minister had taken a hands-off approach to RTÉ governance and funding.
In fact, we are still waiting to see any detail on reforms to the funding model and organisational structures for the national broadcaster – despite the catastrophe that seems never-ending.
Revelation after revelation continues to unfold, with zero Government accountability when it comes to the fair and proper spending of public money.
Speaking to those working at RTÉ, it’s clear that there’s no plan in place for the future of the national broadcaster.
The far-reaching consequences of the minister’s apparent solo run last week have left us all in doubt about the future of public service broadcasting – and of much-loved shows, from Reeling In The Years to John Creedon’s musical interlude every evening on Radio 1.
From the outset of this crisis, the minister has been on the back foot. Until recently, she had been clear – she does not get involved in operational matters at RTÉ.
But what could be more interfering than effectively summarily dismissing the chair of the board, live on TV?
What’s more, in the context of multiple bailouts of RTÉ by the public, we now know for sure that the minister failed to ask the most basic questions regarding the use of taxpayers’ money for exit payments to former RTÉ employees.
At the same time, this minister failed to call unequivocally for people to pay their TV licences.
This revenue stream has since dramatically reduced, with one in five householders now refusing to pay or not paying the licence fee.
Overall sales are down 13% on last year, with a revenue loss to the public broadcaster of almost €20million.
The Media Minister should be the protector of RTÉ and, crucially, also of the public purse.
But we have seen failures on both counts.
And as the hurdles have continued to present themselves, it is now clear that neither the minister, nor the Taoiseach, nor the Tánaiste, have followed any of the details on reform.
It appears that minutes were not kept of key meetings or phone calls, and the minister failed to ask sufficient questions about the processes that were adopted following high-profile employee exits from RTÉ.
To add insult to injury, the minister’s failure to intervene and demand reform has allowed her Government colleagues to run rings around RTÉ and further damage its reputation.
Fine Gael’s Brendan Griffin is busy stoking up a conspiracy theory about RTÉ pausing advertisements for the TV licence, further eroding the funding available to the broadcaster.
And last week, Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon effectively called for Eimear Cusack, RTÉ’s HR director, to resign.
What next: will Government TDs try to decide on who takes on the role of Prime Time presenter?
There is an obligation on Kevin Bakhurst, the new director general of RTÉ, to ensure effective reforms are implemented at the national broadcaster.
But why is this minister, and her Government colleagues, attempting to carry out changes in real time through issuing press statements, rather than through constructive engagement with the board and the staff working at RTÉ?
Last November, pronouncements were made about massive cuts to the RTÉ workforce, with reductions of up to one fifth of current staff proposed.
The minister says she does not get involved in operational matters at RTÉ, but how could any broadcaster operate with a skeleton staff? The uncertainty and lack of clarity on staffing numbers will see a likely drain of the talent in RTÉ – it means any upcoming journalists or producers will be much less likely to see the national broadcaster as a vehicle for nurturing talent.
For too long, this minister and this Government have been passive bystanders as the RTÉ saga continues – and the minister’s most recent intervention has been deeply unhelpful, with no apparent future plan now in place.
Just when will the Government put an end to this ongoing and destructive live-action drama?
She should be a protector of RTÉ, and the public purse