The former chair of the RTÉ Board has said that the manner of her "enforced dismissal" from the role seemed designed to "traduce" her reputation.Siún Ní Raghallaigh resigned after Minister for Media Catherine Martin's appearance on RTÉ Prime Time last month 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.In a lengthy statement this afternoon, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she "cannot remain silent" around what she described as her "enforced dismissal"."I do not claim to understand why an issue disposed of on 10 October 2023 and subsequently discussed in length at the PAC should be revived in February 2024 but not in the intervening period," she said.Ms Ní Raghallaigh also said that her experience during her time in the role was "of a minister actively taking a hands-off approach whilst delegating through her officials"."The rule book on good governance may prescribe regular contact between minister and chair as the norm but, from day one, I had no choice but to accept the practice of regular contact between chair and secretary general," she said.The former RTÉ chair said she dedicated every single day of her time in the role to reform RTÉ and she had put her personal life on hold.In a statement, Minister Martin said she outlined her and the Department of Media's position regarding Ms Ní Raghallaigh’s resignation last week."This included taking questions at a three and a half hour meeting of the Joint Oireachtas Committee and doing statements in the Dáil."I would again like to put on record my thanks to the former Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh for her dedication and commitment to RTÉ and public service broadcasting," she said.Minister Martin added: "An important step forward for RTÉ will be taken tomorrow when I seek Government approval for the appointment of a new Chair and additional boards members. Upon appointment I will seek to meet the new Chair and the Director General in the coming days."Ms Ní Raghallaigh also detailed the timeline of events that led to Minister for Media Catherine Martin appearing on Prime Time.Over the course of almost ten hours that day she said there was no invitation at any point for her to meet or talk with the mnister directly.She said that she had urged the Department of Media not to have the Minister send her a letter expressing disappointment about incorrect information given at meetings earlier that week.She described the minister raising Richard Collins' exit package on the Monday and Wednesday meetings of that week as "left of field and rehashing an issue that was dealt with".She said to raise it five months later "was and remains baffling to me".The severance package of the former CFO was not unimportant, she added, but it was historical and she had informed the Department of Media about the process on 10 October 2023.Meanwhile, Sinn Féin TD Thomas Gould has said if Minister Martin was "serious" in rebuilding the public's trust in RTÉ, she should have met with Ms Ní Raghallaigh instead of appearing on television and declining to express confidence in her."What we have is the former chairperson coming out saying I made a mistake. She put her hand up, she apologised," he said."With all the controversy in RTÉ over the last number of years for the chairperson to be publicly sacked on television and that is the way I saw it," Mr Gould told RTÉ’s Drivetime.He added: "She went forward, tried to sort out the problems in RTÉ, she tried to have an air of openness and transparency and she made a couple of mistakes but there were much bigger mistakes made in RTÉ."If the Minister was really serious on getting RTÉ so people could trust RTÉ again, she would have rang that chairperson and got together."
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