Tánaiste and Foreign Secretary Michael Martin said there must be a “rebalancing” at RTÉ and a return to public service principles, reports RTE.
The three coalition leaders will meet tonight to finalize RTÉ’s external assessment, which will be considered by the cabinet tomorrow.
It follows the disclosure of undisclosed payments totaling €345,000 to presenter Ryan Tubridy over several years.
Party leaders are also expected to sign off on proposals allowing for the appointment of an auditor to review RTÉ’s finances.
Tánaiste said: “I think the ethos of the whole sense of public service is something we need to work on with RTÉ to make sure that’s restored, because that’s very important,” reports RTE.
Speaking on RTÉ’s News at One, he added: “My own observations are that there has to be a rebalancing in terms of the public service ethos of the station and the commercial activity – which is essential, let’s be frank,” reports RTE.
Earlier, independent Senator Ronan Mullen proposed that salaries at RTÉ be in line with what a government minister receives.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said: “Essentially it is the Restriction of Salaries Bill which comes to its second stage debate in the Seanad this Wednesday,” reports RTE.
He said the bill would provide a first-of-its-kind law capping salaries in public broadcasting.
“It refers to the corporation so we’re talking about RTÉ and TG4 under the broadcasting legislation. My legislation would amend that legislation to provide that no matter how the salary is constructed, whether by way of direct employment or any set of contracts with external people, that the remuneration cannot exceed the annual salary allowance of the minister,” Mr Mullen said, reports RTE.
Minister of State Jack Chambers said he did not believe “ordinary workers in RTÉ should pay the price for dysfunction at senior management”, reports RTE.
Speaking to Claire Byrne on RTÉ’s Today programme, he said that “need to have public service broadcasting beyond this point”, and the opportunity is being used “to bring reform, to put RTÉ in a place of proper governance and restore trust and confidence in the organisation”, reports RTE.
Mr Chambers said someone had asked to appear before the Oireachtas committee on the matter.
“I think the drip feed [of information] that we saw last week didn’t yield confidence and I think anyone who’s asked should appear and put all the facts on the table,” he said, reports RTE.
Meanwhile, RTÉ released a statement this morning saying it was fully committed to its operations in Cork.
It said: “Contrary to speculation, RTÉ remains fully committed to its operations in Cork. The suitability of the current building for the full range of RTÉ’s operations in Cork is being assessed,” reports RTE.
Separately, a spokesperson for RTÉ’s board confirmed that its chairman, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, and other board members will attend the next session of the Oireachtas Media Commission later this week.
RTÉ has not yet indicated whether board members will attend.
Other invitees include former CEO Noel Curran, former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe and former RTÉ board chairman Moa Doherty.
RTÉ’s board is a 12-member body that sets policy for the broadcaster, while the board of directors is a committee of senior management responsible for its day-to-day running.
Meanwhile, Roddy Flynn, a lecturer at the School of Communications at Dublin City University, said there was an urgent need to discuss how to fund RTÉ – in particular its public part.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Today with Claire Byrne said: “A dual funding model is not uncommon, but the extent of RTÉ’s reliance and the extent to which RTÉ has been kind of forced to be reliant on commercial income is unusual by European standards. It’s unusual by public service broadcasting standards in general,” reports RTE.
Mr Flynn said the reliance on the commercial side is “plummeting”.
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