Media Minister Catherine Martin has indicated that the State will pay for an external review of RTÉ rather than sending the bill to the national broadcaster.
This is despite the fact that RTÉ under-declared star Ryan Tubridy’s pay for the last five years by €345,000.
The Green Party deputy leader also said that it is up to RTÉ if they want to reveal the salary of the new Late Late Show presenter Patrick Kielty.
READ MORE: RTE pay scandal LIVE updates as new statement due and Dee Forbes to miss Oireachtas Committee
Minister Martin briefed Cabinet on Tuesday morning about the ongoing pay scandal that has engulfed the national broadcaster.
The terms of reference for the review and who will conduct it are expected to be finalised by the end of the week. The review will examine matters back as far as 2008.
When asked if the Government was going to pay or if the bill would be sent to RTÉ, Minister Martin told The Irish Mirror that her Department will "have to work out the cost of that first".
"I believe in the good to democracy and society that public service broadcasting does," she said.
"I don't think you can place a price on that. But it'll be the best value possible.
"We have to remember what we're trying to restore here is confidence in public service broadcasting, which does a good for democracy and society.
"I think it's our responsibility to help restore the trust in RTÉ.
"If that needs this external review, which I think it does [...] then so be it."
Asked if she believed that the new host of The Late Late Show Patrick Kielty should reveal his salary, Ms Martin said that was an "operational matter for RTÉ".
"I do believe that as much transparency as possible is what is needed now to heal the trust that has been broken.
"I think it'll be an opportunity at Oireachtas Committees and I think that might be one of the questions that will be asked."
The Minister said that anyone named in RTE's "comprehensive statement", which will be published on Tuesday afternoon and must contain the names of people other than former Director General Dee Forbes about the Tubridy review, must appear in front of Oireachtas committees.
Ms Martin said that she wrote the RTÉ chair to "set out my expectation that the further Statement to be released by RTÉ today will address key questions that need to be answered.
"In particular, the public wants to know who signed off on the payments, who else was involved or aware of these transactions, and when will the further Grant Thornton report commissioned by RTÉ which relates to the understatement of the remuneration of RTÉ’s top paid presenter by €120,000 between 2017 and 2019 be completed.
"At times of crisis, it is the failure to put all information on the record at the earliest possible juncture that does most damage.
"RTÉ must not now squander this opportunity to share everything that they know on this matter in advance of the Oireachtas hearings later this week."
