Media Minister Catherine Martin has indicated that the State will pay for an external review of RTE rather than sending the bill to the national broadcaster.
This is despite the fact that RTE 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 RTE if they want to reveal the salary of the new Late Late presenter Patrick Kielty.
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.
When asked if the Government was going to pay or if the bill would be sent to RTE, Minister Martin told the Irish Mirror that her Department will “have to work out the cost of that first”.
Read more: RTE payments scandal: Main points as Dee Forbes in the firing line and Ryan Tubridy 'no wrongdoing'
“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 RTE.
"I do believe that as much transparency as possible is what it's 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 who is named in RTE's “comprehensive statement”, which will be published on Tuesday afternoon, 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 RTE chair to “set out my expectation that the further Statement to be released by RTE 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 RTE which relates to the understatement of the remuneration of RTE'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. RTE must not now squander this opportunity to share everything that they know on this matter in advance of the Oireachtas hearings later this week.”
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