Martin: Trust 'damaged' between public and RTÉ over Ryan Tubridy payments
Asked if Ryan Tubridy should resign, Catherine Martin said that she would not be commenting on individuals.
Media Minister Catherine Martin has said "trust has been damaged" between the general public and RTÉ, following revelations that Ryan Tubridy had received significant undeclared payments.
Speaking to reporters on Friday, Ms Martin said the revelations had raised more concerns about both the transparency and governance of RTÉ.
On Thursday, RTÉ admitted to paying Ryan Tubridy €345,000 more than what it stated publicly it was paying him.
In a detailed statement, RTÉ said the money was paid between 2017 and 2022, and was above his annual published salary.
The payments were uncovered after a “transparency” issue about payments made to Mr Tubridy was identified during a routine audit of RTÉ’s 2022 accounts in March.
Ms Martin said that she would be holding a face-to-face meeting with RTÉ's chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh next Monday over the scandal.
"I'd really like to be briefed in detail in relation to this matter. I want to know what actions are going to be taken, what process will be put in place to make sure it never happens again," Ms Martin said.
"I do believe it raises concerns in relation to the broader transparency and governance of this organisation.
Pressed on whether or not the meeting with Ms Ní Raghallaigh should be moved forward, Ms Martin said that it was set for Monday due to a “scheduling issue”.
“I’m quite happy to bring the meeting forward if needs be, that’s not an issue. It’s just, unfortunately, today, I don’t think it would get the time that they deserve due to scheduling issues.”
The Oireachtas media committee is due to hold a special online private meeting this afternoon, following the fallout from the ongoing scandal.
The meeting itself has been called by the committee chair, Niamh Smyth.
Ms Martin added that trust was breached with the public and with RTÉ staff.
Asked if Mr Tubridy should resign, Ms Martin said that she would not be commenting on individuals.
"I would like as much transparency as possible around this issue because when trust is broken, you need transparency."
On the suspension of outgoing director general Dee Forbes, Ms Martin said that she was first made aware of it yesterday.
“I was also made aware in that that the board had to take legal advice before they could divulge that information,” Ms Martin said.
Asked if there needed to be structural reform of RTÉ, Ms Martin said that she expected to discuss that with the board next week.
"If the public have lost the trust, if the staff have lost the trust, we need to look at the wider transparency, wider governance, the culture that is there in that organisation, all of that, I think, needs to be reviewed."
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