Cabinet to sign off on new chair of RTÉ board on Tuesday

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said a decision on how the State will fund the national broadcaster going forward would be made once the final two reports commissioned by the Government are complete

There are five vacancies on the RTÉ board. Three will be filled on Tuesday. 

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said Cabinet will sign off on a new chair of the RTÉ board and fill two other board vacancies on Tuesday.

Mr Varadkar said a decision on how the State will fund the national broadcaster going forward would be made once the final two reports commissioned by the Government are complete.

It comes as the Public Accounts Committee is to recommend in its report on Tuesday that RTÉ should come under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General.

Mr Varadkar said although a policy decision had yet to be made on whether that would happen, he said it would be a “good idea” to have “that additional level of scrutiny”. 

The Taoiseach said it hah been difficult but not impossible to find people who will sit on RTÉ’s Board, including a new chair after the resignation of Siún Ní Raghallaigh.

Former RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh

There are five vacancies on the RTÉ board. Three will be filled tomorrow after Cabinet meets and the other two positions will be filled subsequently, Mr Varadkar said.

He said: “Just in relation to RTÉ, Minister Martin will bring the name of a new chairperson and some new board members to Cabinet tomorrow.

“That'll be an important step forward, I think, in making sure that there's a fully functioning board for RTÉ.

“And what the Government wants to see, we want to see the final sets of reports, the reports on the governance of RTÉ, how we can make sure that it runs better and operates better into the future.

“We'd expect to have them in a matter of weeks and then be able to make a decision on future funding in the context,” he said.