RTÉ News: Former HSE boss open to approach to be chair of RTÉ Board

Story from RTÉ News:

Former head of the Health Service Executive Paul Reid has said he would "give good consideration" to any approach from the government about becoming the next chair of the RTÉ Board.

Mr Reid told RTÉ News, however, that he would "expect that others are in the running".

Minister for Media Catherine Martin said in a statement last Friday that her "immediate focus is on appointing a new chair and additional members [to the RTÉ Board] very shortly to ensure that the Board can continue its important work".

The appointment is expected to be announced on Tuesday morning.

Tánaiste Micheál Martin said that the Coalition leaders would also be involved in the discussions around who should secure the position of chair of the RTÉ Board.

Former chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh resigned after Minister Martin's appearance on Prime Time in which she declined to express confidence in her.

Minister Martin later told the Oireachtas Committee on Media that on two occasions in the same week, Ms Ní Raghallaigh had supplied her with inaccurate information about the board's involvement in exit deals at the station.

Chair of the Public Accounts Committee Brian Stanley has confirmed that his members will recommend that RTÉ be brought under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

The Committee will publish its final report into the crisis at the national broadcaster on Tuesday, and Deputy Stanley said that the oversight of the C+AG would be "central" to reform.

He told RTÉ News that the PAC's more than 20 recommendations were "corrective measures" which, if put in place speedily, "would be helpful and give the public confidence".

He added: "We have to get to a point where we can substantially move things on."

Mr Stanley said: "This has to be all about restoring public trust... restoring public confidence... and no longer hoodwinking the public or the Dáil or the Public Accounts Committee. A line has to be drawn under that - and I think the speedy implementation of this report would achieve that."

Earlier, Minister for Further and Higher Education Simon Harris said the move to bring RTÉ under the remit of the office of the Comptroller and Auditor General as a "sensible" recommendation.

Speaking on RTÉ's The Week In Politics, Minister Harris said: "These recommendations sound very like common sense to me. I think putting RTÉ back under the control of the Comptroller and Auditor General is the sensible thing to do."

He added that March is: "... a really important month to move beyond revelation, I think, to recommendation and higher terrain for RTÉ."

It is understood that the PAC report will further demand that all future exit packages are reported, and none can include a non-disclosure agreement.

PAC will also seek to ensure that all salaried positions worth more than €150,000 are reported as well.

For the past eight months, PAC has been examining the crisis at RTÉ, part of which involved public hearings with RTÉ executives and board members.

Independent TD and PAC member Verona Murphy said bringing RTÉ under the remit of the C&AG is the "number one priority", but she added that the other recommendations from the committee are "required" to be implemented too.

Fine Gael TD and PAC member Colm Burke is emphatic that the C&AG recommendation has to be adopted.

He said: "RTÉ is receiving a substantial portion of its income from the taxpayers, therefore there must be full transparency and accountability - including coming back under the C&AG.

"There was no accountability in a number of areas and, to add to the problem, was the existence of a barter (slush fund) account, with only a few people knowing of its existence."

Sinn Féin TD and PAC member Imelda Munster also prioritised the C&AG recommendation and, consequently, RTÉ coming under the remit of the Public Accounts Committee.

She added: "Stringent layers of oversight and accountability are required at every level of the [RTÉ] executive and the board."

She said that "one additional big issue" is bogus self-employment at the station, which "needs to be comprehensively addressed for workers past and present".

The Louth TD said her party wants the television licence fee scrapped and RTÉ to receive direct Exchequer funding as recommended by the Future of Media Commission.

Social Democrat TD Catherine Murphy, who is also vice-chair of PAC, said the committee's report has drawn on hearings as well as independent reports commissioned by RTÉ, such as McCann Fitzgerald's examination of voluntary exit programmes at the station.

She said the report seeks to pull many of the key findings in one place and seeks actions and changes from RTÉ that address "many of the failings that came to light".

Fianna Fáil TD for Dún Laoghaire Cormac Devlin said the PAC recognises that its report needs to be published, albeit that the crisis at RTÉ is continuing.

He said: "We are conscious that we need to conclude and publish our report based on our considerations and recommendations."

Deputy Devlin said the PAC took that decision even though Minister for Media Catherine Martin's interview on Prime Time, which triggered the resignation of the chair of the RTÉ Board, revealed "further issues of concern."

Labour TD and PAC member Alan Kelly said: "RTÉ needs to get a chair that will take control of the situation and have confidence in the minister. That will be a challenge."

He added: "The board also need to demand that the Government make a decision on future funding as it's obvious that there are huge conflicts at the Cabinet table on this."

He said all outstanding reports need to be published so that RTÉ can "move on in a positive direction".

When PAC's final report is published, it will be sent to the line minister, who in this case is Minister Martin.

In the vast majority of cases, such recommendations are adopted. If a minister disagrees with a proposal, they must send PAC a "minute" as to why they have a problem.

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