Taoiseach: 'Trust broke down' between Catherine Martin and Siún Ní Raghallaigh 

The Labour Party has called for Catherine Martin to resign while the Social Democrats said she has to come before the Dáil to answer questions about whether she misled the Oireachtas. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

The Taoiseach has said he is "absolutely certain" that Media Minister Catherine Martin will respond to questions over her handling of the departure of the former chairperson of the RTÉ Board Siún Ní Raghallaigh.

In a statement on Monday that has revived pressure on Ms Martin, Ms Ní Raghallaigh accused the minister of having an active “hands-off approach” in communicating with her through her officials. She also described the manner of her departure as an "enforced dismissal" which had been "designed to traduce" her reputation.

There have been calls for Ms Martin to appear before the Dáil to explain the way in which Ms Ní Raghallaigh's tenure as RTÉ chair came to an end. 

Ms Ní Raghallaigh's statement was described as a devastating exposure of a minister not in charge of her brief and disinterested in details.

Cabinet ministers have also been “stunned” by the former chair’s statement, with one saying Ms Ní Raghallaigh’s version of events had left them “flabbergasted”.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. File Picture: Stephen Collins /Collins

"I'm absolutely sure Minister Martin will be happy to respond to what the former RTÉ chair Siun Ní Raghallaigh has said," Mr Varadkar said on Tuesday.

"I think they’re both women in good standing, and what happened essentially between the two of them is the relationship broke down, trust broke down, and Minister Martin found herself in a position where she wasn't able to fully trust the information she was given by the former chair."

In an interview on Morning Ireland, the Taoiseach noted that Ms Ní Raghallaigh admitted that she had given wrong information to the minister.

Thereafter, he said Ms Martin "lost trust" in what she was hearing and this was "fundamentally why the relationship broke down and why the former chairperson chose to resign".

However, he said he did not believe that Ms Ní Raghallaigh's reputation should be tarnished by what had occurred.

"Sometimes these [things] happen, misunderstandings, relationships break down, it doesn't necessarily mean that anyone did anything wrong or lacked confidence, in my view," he said.

'Enforced dismissal'

Former chair of the board of RTÉ Siún Ní Raghallaigh. File Picture: Norma Burke/RollingNews.ie

In a four-page letter on Monday, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she could not remain silent on the manner of her "enforced dismissal, which seemed designed to traduce my reputation”.

She resigned from her position after Ms Martin failed to express confidence in her during an RTÉ Prime Time interview in which she said she had been “misinformed” by the former chair regarding sign-off of former chief financial officer Richard Collins’s exit package.

Ms Martin told an Oireachtas committee last week that twice in the same week Ms Ní Raghallaigh had supplied her with inaccurate information about the board’s involvement in exit deals at the station.

However, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she did not claim to understand why the issue of Mr Collins’s exit package, which had been dealt with in October last year and discussed in length at the Public Accounts Committee, was raised again. She said once she realised she had “inadvertently” given Ms Martin the wrong answer to a question from her at two meetings in the same week last month, she notified the department to issue a clarification that same week.

She said: “The error was a lapse of memory, nothing more. I had no motivation or gain to obfuscate on the matter. This was a matter that had been dealt with in October 2023, almost five months prior.”

Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she advised the then secretary general on October 10 last year about the discussions at the remuneration committee which approved an exit payment for Mr Collins. She said she did not receive follow-up queries until the exit packages came into the public domain.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh also said her experience in the role was “of a minister actively taking a hands-off approach whilst delegating through her officials”.

“The rule book on good governance may prescribe regular contact between minister and chair as the norm but, from day one, I had no choice but to accept the practice of regular contact between chair and secretary general,” she said.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh said it is not true that there were scheduled monthly meetings between her and Ms Martin as claimed; rather there were only a “handful” of direct meetings in 15 months while she was chairperson.

She said that at no point was she offered a call or a meeting with the minister “directly” before her Prime Time interview.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh said she had “no option but to resign” after Ms Martin told the media she had sent a letter expressing disappointment in her. She said she asked the department not to send the letter as she felt it would reflect the minister expressing no confidence in her and make her position untenable.

Responding to Ms Ní Raghallaigh’s statement yesterday, Ms Martin said: “Any minister needs to rely on getting clear, timely, and accurate information from the chair of a State body.”

She again thanked Ms Ní Raghallaigh for her work.

Meamwhile, Ms Martin will today confirm that Terence O’Rourke, former KPMG managing partner and current ESB chairman, is to be appointed the new chairman of the RTÉ board. Government leaders agreed the move last night.

Comptroller and Auditor General recommendation

Also on Morning Ireland, Mr Varadkar said the Public Accounts Committee's recommendation that RTÉ be brought back under the control of the Comptroller and Auditor General, who would scritunise the broadcaster's finances, was a "good idea". 

He said a Government decision on the matter would be taken "in the next few weeks."

He also said he hoped the Government would have received all of the reports commissioned into the governance of RTÉ by the end of this month, and that these would allow ministers "to press ahead with making the decisions that need to be made" to help put RTÉ on "a stable footing".

The Taoiseach said Ireland "needs a strong RTÉ". 

"We're a small country, five million people, if we don't produce our own quality news content, current affairs, drama, children's programmes, all of those things, we're so easily sucked into the news and media market of Britain," he said.

Mr Varadkar also said that the Government had set a target for the summer recess to decide whether future funding for the State broadcaster would come from the Exchequer or in the form of a new media or household charge. "You can argue it either way," he said.

"I think the main argument against Exchequer funding would be that it would put too much control in the government of the day, and there are lots of reasons as to why I think there's a strong case that, having hypothecated or bespoke funding that the government would find it much harder to interfere with, would be a better option."

"But I also think we need to move beyond the idea that whatever income stream is created, that it’s just for RTÉ. The era where you have to buy your electricity from the ESB, you have to fly Aer Lingus, only CIE can provide public transport, that's over. It needs to be money that's earned and it needs to be competed for.”