RTE’s new Director General Kevin Bakhurst will have a “big job” when he begins his new role at the broadcaster after he met with the station’s union representatives on Friday.
Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists Seamus Dooley said Mr Bakhurst made a commitment to communicate with staff, to engage fully and travel and meet people outside of Dublin.
Speaking on RTÉ's Today with Claire Byrne, he said: "It was a positive engagement in that he acknowledged, as indeed did the human resources director, the genuine regret at the pain that has been inflicted on staff.
READ MORE: Incoming RTE boss Kevin Bakhurst says pay controversy is 'painful to watch' and admits 'huge challenge' ahead
"But more positively, a firm commitment to work with staff and unions to restore the faith and confidence of staff in RTÉ."
Mr Bakhurst, who met Minister for Media Catherine Martin on Thursday, said trust in RTÉ has been "severely diminished" and a "highly damaging" two weeks for the organisation has been "painful to watch".
SIPTU representative Teresa Hannick said at first they did not know whether to "congratulate or commiserate" with Mr Bakhurst, who is due to officially begin in his role on Monday.
She said it is important to be positive for the ordinary workers "who, at this moment in time, are keeping this organisation going".
Vice-Chair of SIPTU Lisa Garvey said staff are angry and "want confirmation that we can rebuild this place, keep our jobs, and continue to work in a place that most of us are happy to work in".
An insider told us that Mr Bakhurst has a “big job” ahead of him, claiming there was “clearly a culture of lack of good management” within the organisation.
The source told us: “RTE isn’t transparent.
“There is clearly a culture of lack of good management and that is a real problem, and the real thing is transparency.”
But the source said Mr Bakhurst was “a good leader”.
“What we have now is a really damaged, really weakened RTE. Kevin Bakhurst has a big job to do when he gets in as DG. Kevin is a really good guy, he actually probably is good in this state.
"He’s good with process, he’s good with management and is a good leader so I think Kevin is probably not a bad man to try and regain some sense of something.”
Meanwhile, the broadcast and online media regulator has said it wants to look in detail to "verify" whether or not RTÉ met its commitments to deliver public service broadcasting.
Meanwhile, the chairperson of Coimisiún na Meán (Media Commission), Jeremy Godfrey has expressed deep concern about the pay controversy in RTÉ because of the importance of public service broadcasting
“Public service broadcasting is incredibly important to society. It pulls us together as a nation. It provides us with content that reflects and shapes who we are as a society. And very importantly, it provides us with authoritative, unbiased, objective news that's a counterweight to disinformation online.
“But you can't have thriving public service broadcasting unless you have a trusted public service broadcaster. And the continuing revelations, as the incoming Director-General said yesterday, have severely damaged trust. And it's great that his first priority and main priority is going to be to restore trust. And the investigations and reviews commissioned by the Minister will be part of that. So we are certainly very supportive of that.”
He said he welcomed comments from Mr Bakhurst, who said his main priority will be on restoring trust.
Mr Godfrey also said there is clearly some overlap between what his agency is looking at in terms of a regulatory framework and what the external reviews into RTÉ will examine.
He said there will be engagement to avoid duplication, but added that there was no timeframe on it as yet.
He has also been invited to appear before the Public Accounts Committee next Thursday.
