While many aspects of the way RTÉ handles star pay remain unexplained, one fact is clear: €150,000 of the top-ups paid to Ryan Tubridy, while legal, are questionable.
RTÉ has known about the commercial and editorial challenges of managing commercial arrangements for decades. It has yet to ensure transparency in the terms of this engagement.
Amid debates on €5,000 bills for flip-flops and secret car deals, the Oireachtas Media Committee has shed a bit more light on the process that led RTÉ to make undisclosed payments to its star presenter.
The first concrete proposal to reform the governance of RTÉ is a request by its chair to place it under the scrutiny of the State’s financial watchdog – but the current law does not allow it.
As the government announces a wide-ranging review of corporate governance at RTÉ, an analysis of its corporate governance since 2015 shows spotty adherence to its remuneration committee's terms of reference.
Recent events show that the way independent productions are held to a higher standard by RTÉ with endless cost reports and battles over budgets might just be a good thing, writes Kite Entertainment’s managing director Darren Smith.
Cars and income from speaking engagements are among the side deals the state broadcaster is asking selected staff to detail this week.
What has made the RTÉ payments debacle a national scandal is not the amounts at stake. It is the explosive cocktail of obfuscation and funds that are ultimately owned by and owed to the public.
The immediate issue, serious as it is, should not be allowed to distract from the decades-long neglect of all governments to ever properly establish a form of public-service media appropriate to the needs of contemporary Ireland.
The questioning got more pointed for the second appearance by RTÉ executives and board members past and present in as many days. One remarkable absence continued to hang over proceedings.
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