Catherine Martin brands RTÉ performance review findings 'disappointing'

Media Minister Catherine Martin voiced her concern about falling trust in RTÉ’s news service — albeit 'from a position of RTÉ’s being one of the most trusted news brands in Europe'. File picture: David Creedon

Media Minister Catherine Martin has said the findings of an annual review into the performance and public funding of RTÉ were “disappointing” and “concerning”.

In a letter to Coimisiún na Meán executive chairperson Jeremy Godfrey, Ms Martin said “of particular concern” was the “drop in trust in RTÉ’s news service, albeit this comes from a position of RTÉ’s being one of the most trusted news brands in Europe”.

“Clearly there have been serious developments regarding RTÉ since [the review] and these events have necessitated separate processes, which remain ongoing,” she said.

The minister said she was writing last week in the context of a report into public service broadcasters submitted last year by the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland.

Having been established earlier this year, Coimisiún na Meán has taken on the staff and responsibilities of the former Broadcasting Authority of Ireland (BAI).

The BAI report for 2021 — prepared well before the controversies at RTÉ this summer — covers both TG4 and RTÉ and conducts analysis based on targets set out and funding provided to both broadcasters.

On RTÉ, the report said: “The last year has provided further evidence that the status quo for RTÉ is unsustainable. 

The combination of flat funding, an increasingly competitive market, and substantial constraints on its ability to manage its cost base make declines in its performance almost inevitable.

It said the case for increased funding for RTÉ is as “strong as ever” and “indeed stronger, as the consequences of funding constraints is becoming more evident”.

Separately, RTÉ has confirmed that it has not delivered a controversial memo of a Microsoft Teams meeting — between former director general Dee Forbes and Ryan Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly — to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) by the committee's deadline of November 1.

While several other outstanding documents from the PAC’s requests to RTÉ had been sent to the committee, the memo of the infamous meeting between Ms Forbes and Mr Kelly on May 7, 2020, has been withheld.

That was the meeting in which it is acknowledged the tripartite deal between RTÉ and Renault — which saw Mr Tubridy paid €235,000 on top of his salary over three years — was rubberstamped.

A spokesperson for RTÉ said its stated position on the memo — that it is excluded from release due to client confidentiality and legal privilege — continues to stand, but that the broadcaster “notes the request of the committee to seek a solution and will consider the request”.

The PAC, which had expected such a refusal, but which had almost unanimously agreed that the document should be compelled if it would not be released willingly, has pressed on with its plans to action those powers of compellability.

That involves a formal request to the Dáil committee on procedure and privilege so that those powers can be used, a request which has now been made, with no formal response having yet been received.