Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said the Government intends to appoint a new chairperson of RTÉ as early as next week."We intend to appoint a new chairperson of the RTÉ board as soon as possible, certainly, if we can do it next week," he told RTÉ News.Speaking in Paris ahead of a meeting of European leaders, Mr Varadkar reiterated his confidence in Minister for Media Catherine Martin following Siún Ní Raghallaigh's resignation as chairperson last week.He said: "I think she was probably in a no-win situation. She felt that she couldn't fully rely on the information being given to her by the former chairperson of the board."I know, as a minister who has been in many departments, if you find yourself in a place where you're just not fully confident that you're getting full and accurate information from a chairperson, that makes it very difficult."The Taoiseach challenged the accusations that Ms Martin mishandled the situation.He added: "I don't think that's fair. Certainly the problems that exist in RTÉ are not Minister Martin's making by any means."And she's been working very hard over the past year to put things right. We do need to put things right because RTÉ is a really important institution, in my view."Meanwhile, RTÉ has reiterated that a large volume of issues were addressed and discussed at meeting the Minister for Media Catherine Martin last week.In a statement, RTÉ said some confusion arose regarding a question from the minister to the chair about the approval by the RTÉ Board of the exit of former chief financial officer Richard Collins."Kevin Bakhurst discussed this with the chair after the meeting and 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," RTÉ added.Earlier, Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster called for Ms Martin to "drop the hands-off approach" to RTÉ.Ms Munster, who sits on the Public Accounts Committee, said there was a request for Ms Martin to come before the Dáil this week to answer questions."There's a couple of issues she needs to address and the first one is to drop the hands-off approach that she's had, and to start making definitive decisions."One of those is to make the decision to bring RTÉ under the supervision of the Comptroller and Auditor General and the Public Accounts Committee. The other decision is on the license fee."Ms Munster called for Ms Martin to abolish the license fee and replace it with direct exchequer funding.She referred to the events that unfolded over last Thursday and Friday as "another debacle" and "another twist and turn we didn't need"."There is an opportunity now for the Minister to come into the Dáil this week and tell us she is going to make those important decisions, so that people can move forward, and confidence and trust can begin to be restored in our public broadcaster," Ms Munster added.Earlier, the Minister for Public Expenditure said he "absolutely supports" Ms Martin.Speaking after a citizenship ceremony in Dublin, Paschal Donohoe said that in his time working with the Arts and Media Minister she has "been a great champion for RTÉ and a great champion for the importance of public service broadcasting".He continued: "She has always been transparent, she has always been clear, and the issue she had to deal with last week regarding the relationship between the chair of the board of RTÉ and herself is of fundamental importance, so I absolutely support her in her work and we are going to continue in our discussions regarding the future of how we fund RTÉ.""The events of the last few days do not take away from a fundamental truth that we will have to confront; that if we want good journalism, if we want public service broadcasting in our country, ultimately it will have to be paid for," he added.Meanwhile, Minister of State Peter Burke said the Government will need to move quickly once the final reports into culture and governance of RTÉ are published and that he suspected a new chair will be appointed quickly."We need a strong chair and a strong RTÉ," he said. 25-He told RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne that it is critical that the structures and mechanisms to ensure full transparency for public money are present in RTÉ.Once they are, then the Government will have the pathway to make a decision that would put public service broadcasting on a sustainable footing, he said.The RTÉ crisis "cannot be allowed to stumble on" and the public has to be assured that "somebody competent is in charge", Labour's media spokesperson Senator Marie Sherlock has said.Speaking on RTÉ's Morning Ireland, Ms Sherlock said Minister for Media Catherine Martin has exacerbated the crisis and needs to answer questions about her "command of the detail" that was available to her department about exit deals.Her comments come as TDs and senators are expected to seek further explanation this week on the circumstances surrounding the resignation of RTÉ chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh.Ms Ní Raghallaigh resigned a few hours after Ms Martin had declined to express confidence in her in an interview on RTÉ's Prime Time on Thursday.Ms Martin told a press briefing at Government Buildings on Friday that she was "deeply disappointed" that the chair "had not given her accurate information" in relation to exit packages for RTÉ executives.She added that the former secretary general of her department has "no recollection" of being told that an exit package for former RTÉ CFO Richard Collins was approved by the RTÉ Board.It emerged yesterday that officials from the Department of Media were told last October that a subcommittee of the RTÉ Board was approving exit payments.Ms Martin is due to appear before a special three-hour session of an Oireachtas committee tomorrow."It is frankly incredible that it is all these months later that she's only asking questions now, about the process," Senator Sherlock added."I think there's there's all sorts of questions for the minister about why she decided to take to the airwaves to essentially air a grievance about the chair of RTÉ last Thursday, when she should have gone ahead with that meeting on Friday morning and asked those questions."The RTÉ Board also requested a meeting with the minister and it is understood that the meeting will take place this week.
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