TDS ask if Martin lost confidence of the board
MEDIA Minister Catherine Martin has been asked how the RTE Board can have confidence in her after the scandal of Chair Siun Ni Raghallaigh’s resignation.
After a bruising Oireachtas Media Committee on Tuesday, Mrs Martin was back under the spotlight yesterday.
She was accused of “effectively sacking” Ms Ni Raghallaigh on last week’s Prime Time after she failed to state three times that she had confidence in her.
Labour’s Alan Kelly said: “You have now put yourself in a situation where it’s either you or the future of RTE and that’s very, very unfortunate.
“How in the name of God can they actually have confidence in you?”
Mr Kelly suggested there had been “orchestration” behind last Thursday’s Prime Time as a member of the minister’s team tipped them off before that the issue had arisen.
Ms Martin said she felt she had to reveal the news on Prime Time as RTE had received a press query and she felt at 9pm that the news was about to break.
Sinn Fein TD Imelda Munster told her instead of “steadying the ship” she “threw a grenade” and “it is clear that you shouldn’t have done that interview”.
She said: “At the Media Committee you admitted you were aware the former chair was threatening to resign and yet you went ahead with that interview.
“In fact, the former chair indicated she would resign if a letter was sent. You sent that on Thursday evening.
“Then your advisors tipped Prime Time off there was breaking news and that you would be willing to answer questions about it.
“I’m not sure if this shows a shocking lack of judgment on your part, or if this was a set up to remove Siun Ni Raghallaigh.
“I struggle to accept you could be that incompetent. I also struggled to believe you didn’t expect the interviewer to ask if you had confidence in the chair.”