Questions over RTE commercial and public service operations interaction – Martin
Catherine Martin said probes she had ordered into RTE were designed to restore public confidence in the broadcaster.
A payments controversy at RTE has raised questions over how the Irish national broadcaster’s commercial and public service operations interact, Minister for Media Catherine Martin has told the Dail.
During ministerial question time, Ms Martin said that reviews she had announced into the troubled broadcaster were aimed at rebuilding trust in the RTE for the Irish public.
RTE has been mired in controversy since it emerged last month that it under-reported fees paid to star presenter Ryan Tubridy and failed to correctly disclose 345,000 euro of payments to him between 2017 and 2022.
A number of probes have been launched into Ireland’s public service broadcaster by Ms Martin.
Addressing the row in the Dail, People Before Profit TD Richard Boyd Barrett said: “One of the things that has come across very strongly in all of this is how commercial and advertising has seriously undermined negatively on the public service remit of RTE.
“Do you agree that is a serious problem which needs to be addressed and what are your proposals to address it?”
Ms Martin said RTE was a public body established by statute which is dual funded through the TV licence fee and commercial income.
She added: “The recent controversy in RTE has definitely raised questions regarding the manner in which RTE’s commercial operations and its public service operations interact.
“It is for that reason, in launching the independent examination of RTE, I have specifically set out in the terms of reference that the review of governance and culture in RTE should assess any cultural characteristics or ways of doing business in RTE, including the impact of RTE’s commercial income activities on its public service remit that are likely to contributed to the findings of the Grant Thornton review.
“My intention, in establishing the examination, is to assist in the process of rebuilding trust in RTE for the benefit of its audience, the Irish public, its staff and all of us who believe in the value of public service broadcasting.”
