RTÉ staff to hold rally tomorrow, as opposition TDs say latest crisis is Media Minister's 'own making'

Image of RTa staff taking part in a protest at the Donnybrook headquarters in last June

STAFF AT RTÉ will hold a lunchtime rally tomorrow afternoon at the plaza in RTÉ Donnybrook.

The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) remarked that the rally is in “response to member requests”.

A spokesperson said RTÉ staff want to ensure that the “urgent need for future funding” of the broadcaster remains the “firm focus despite the unwelcome distractions of the past week”.

The NUJ has also called on the government to produce a “secure and equitable funding model”.

Meanwhile, Labour leader Ivana Bacik has said that the latest RTÉ “existential crisis” is one of Media Minister Catherine Martin’s own making.

Ahead of the minister appearing before an Oireachtas Committee today to discuss the latest in the ongoing RTÉ controversies, opposition TDs rounded on the Martin and how she has handled the crisis.

Bacik said the minister has still not answered the question as to why she went on Prime Time programme last Thursday night “and effectively carried out a summary dismissal of the chairperson of the state board”.

“We want to see questions and answers in the Dáil tomorrow, however, because there are so many questions, the key one remains why the minister took the peremptory action she did on Thursday night, having taken such a hands-off approach to the ongoing crisis in RTE for so long,” she added.

Social Democrat TD Roisin Shortall said this morning that Martin has handled the latest fallout “very badly”.

This is the latest criticism the minister has faced in recent days, though opposition parties have stopped short of calling a motion of no confidence in the minister in the Dáil.

“It’s becoming increasingly obvious that Minister Martin made a serious blunder last Thursday by going on the Prime Time programme,” Shortall said.

“That was very ill-judged in our view, and clearly she was seriously ill-informed about the background to the issue of the exit packages.

“We know now of course that the outgoing chair had notified her department about the packages, the minister didn’t seem to be aware of that at all,” she added.

The minister has come under fire since last week for a series of events that led up to former Chair of the RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh tendering her resignation.

The reason behind the latest debacle is RTÉ’s handling of exit packages for executives who have left the organisation.

The minister said last week that she had been told twice that Raghallaigh did not know about the details of an exit package  for the former chief financial officer, but had subsequently learned the chair was aware of them.

Martin gave an interview to RTÉ’s Prime Time in which she said that she was repeatedly “misinformed” by the chair on whether the board signed off on the exit packages and refused to express that she had confidence in Ní Raghallaigh– instead insisting that she had asked to meet her early the following morning.

Before that meeting happened, Ní Raghallaigh issued a late night statement announcing that she had decided to resign.

After Martin’s comments on Prime Time, Ní Raghallaigh said it was “abundantly clear” that she no longer had the confidence of the minister. “As such, my position is no longer tenable,” she said.

The following day, RTÉ released a statement saying Ní Raghaillaigh had told the Department of Media about the process surrounding the former chief financial officer’s exit.

“The Chair had in fact informed the Department about the process which led to Richard Collins’ departure from RTÉ on October 10th, the day after it was approved at the Remuneration Committee which has delegated powers from the Board. This detail was taken as read although it seems now that it shouldn’t have been,” RTÉ said.

“After checking the minutes of the Remuneration Committee, the Chair moved swiftly to correct this detail with department officials on Thursday, and remind them that the correct process had been followed, and that the Chair had previously informed the Department of same.”

Speaking to reporters this morning at Leinster House, Shortall asid officials from RTÉ and from the department were at the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee last October and discussed the new arrangements for approval of the exit packages.

Shortall also said it was “unfortunate” that the department’s former secretary general Katherine Licken will not attend today’s committee meeting to answer key questions about what department officials knew of the exit payments given to former executives.

“I think that’s very regrettable but there will be other officials there and we know that, not only was the secretary general informed, but that two other senior officials are also aware of this,” Shortall added.

The minister will today face questions from TDs and Senators this evening at an emergency session of the Oireachtas Committee on Media.

Fianna Fáil senator Malcolm Byrne told The Journal he wants to know which of three possible scenarios reflects the truth:

Either RTÉ and the chair failed to properly communicate the new procedures and what happened with the exit packages to the Department
• The chair did indeed inform the Department of Media and the Department failed to inform the Minister
• The Minister was aware of the details but failed to grasp the significance and the full extent of what happened with the exit packages.

With additional reporting by Christina Finn