Pressure on Catherine Martin to appoint new RTÉ chair

Sinn Féin has called on Media Minister Catherine Martin to come before the Dáil to explain the latest RTÉ controversy. It is understood Ms Martin is happy to take part in statements on the matter, but not questions.

Media Minister Catherine Martin is expected to appear before the Dáil and an Oireachtas Committee this week as she comes under pressure to appoint a new RTÉ chair in the coming days.

A Government colleague has called on Ms Martin to move swiftly to appoint a replacement for Súin Ní Raghallaigh who resigned on Friday as chair of the RTÉ board.

Hitting out at Ms Martin's appearance on RTÉ's PrimeTime, during which she repeatedly failed to express confidence in Ms Raghallaigh, Fianna Fáil senator Malcolm Byrne said it is "essential" that a chair is put in place within a week.

"It's probably not a job that we're going to see a queue of people looking to take but it is essential that we have somebody with experience," he said.

It is understood that work to appoint a new chair is already underway, with a number of names being discussed by the three Government leaders over the weekend.

However, Cabinet sources believe it could be next week before a person is found to take over the role.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh resigned after the minister said the former RTÉ chair “misinformed” her over details about the approval of exit packages for a former senior RTÉ executive.

However, it has since emerged that officials from the Department of Media were told last October that a subcommittee of the RTÉ Board was approving exit payments.

Sinn Féin has called on Ms Martin to come before the Dáil to explain the latest RTÉ controversy. It is understood that Ms Martin is happy to take part in statements on the matter in the Dáil chamber but not questions.

She will also face a three-hour grilling at the Media Committee on Tuesday afternoon.

Sinn Féin's David Cullinane said: "There is a lack of accountability, transparency, and in my view, a lack of confidence among the public in relation to how the Minister and the Government have handled this issue."

For the vast, vast majority of people there are no exit packages when they leave their positions. So people are scandalised when they see exit packages of hundreds of thousands of euro. For the vast majority of people they wouldn't even get social welfare if they leave voluntarily.

Social Democrats TD Roisín Shortall said there are many remaining questions for Ms Martin, but she said the bigger picture must be about the future of the national broadcaster.

"That's being lost in the context of all of this detail of who knew what and when. I think that the public have switched off from this, they're sick and tired of it," she told The Week in Politics programme.

She said RTÉ is now in "freefall" and the Minister and Government leaders must take control of the issue.

"It's as if she stepped back and she has an arm's length kind of engagement in this. What we need is for the Minister and the rest of the Government to take charge of this situation to take control of what's been going on in RTÉ."