Ivan Yates accused of engaging in 'modern version of the Galway tent'

Former Fine Gael minister and radio host denied his work as a property developer, providing media training to the housing minister and chairing housing conferences, caused conflicts of interest

Ivan Yates arriving at Leinster House to appear before the media committee. 

Ivan Yates has been accused of engaging in a “modern version of the Galway tent” as he denied that his work as a property developer, providing media training to the housing minister and chairing housing conferences, caused conflicts of interest.

Mr Yates refused to answer questions about whether he had provided coaching to Fianna Fáil presidential election candidate Jim Gavin and appeared on Newstalk on the same day, as he said he “deliberately” did not tell Matt Cooper about the link.

Mr Yates, a former Fine Gael minister and radio host, was dropped from his Path to Power podcast, which he hosted with Mr Cooper, after failing to disclose that he provided media training to Mr Gavin during the election.

Media watchdog Coimisiún na Meán contacted RTÉ and Newstalk regarding Mr Yates’s appearances on the channels before, during, and after the election.

Mr Yates confirmed to Fine Gael senator Garret Ahearn that he had provided media training to housing minister James Browne on changes to rent pressure zone legislation.

He also said that his “biggest clients” included chairing the National Housing Summit and the annual Construction Industry Federation conference.

In addition, he told Mr Ahearn that he is a property developer, including 90 homes in Castlemartyr, with another 400 homes in Midleton in the planning permission process.

“Can you not see how people would see a conflict with a property developer training people who work in property on media, training the minister of housing on media and then talking about housing on a podcast?” Mr Ahearn asked.

He added: “It is a modern version of the Galway tent.” 

Mr Yates denied any conflict, saying he asks people what their “message” is and “I’ll tell you to do it in two sentences instead of six”.

He later said: “If I coached you yesterday, I would feel free to criticise you tomorrow."

When asked by Fianna Fáil senator Alison Comyn, a former journalist, if he regretted not telling Mr Cooper about his training, Mr Yates said he had “reflected” on this.

He said: “On the particular morning where this blew up, I said to Matt, ‘I deliberately didn't tell you, because I didn't want you to be in any way conflicted’.

“In other words, he could say, ‘Oh, I never knew any of this’, and it was a statement of fact.

“If I had said, confidentially, ‘Matt, this is something I do’, it would have put him in a very invidious position.” 

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Newstalk confirmed that Mr Yates had been a cover presenter on Newstalk for three days during the presidential campaign on September 23, 24, and 25, filling in for Pat Kenny.

When asked if he had presented on Newstalk and trained Mr Gavin on the same day, Mr Yates refused to answer, saying it was under review by Coimisiún na Meán and he was “not going to litigate those issues here tonight”.

Mr Yates dismissed the idea that podcasts could be regulated, saying many of the podcasts on the Irish charts were produced outside of the country.

He also said that while he regretted saying on a podcast that Heather Humphreys should “smear the bejaysus” out of Catherine Connolly, he insisted he had no role with Fine Gael during the election. 

He also said it was “absolutely not” a tactic he advised Mr Gavin to pursue.

Fine Gael TD Brian Brennan branded the “smear the bejaysus comments” as “absolutely disgusting” as he noted Mr Yates had the opportunity to “make an official apology”. 

Mr Yates told Mr Brennan he was being “excessively precious” and that politics is a “knockdown, drag-out business” and refused to apologise.

He added: “I wouldn't say something like that on a mainstream broadcast”.

“The Connolly campaign deliberately manipulated this,” he added.

Several TDs objected to comments Mr Yates had made about them on podcasts predicting the outcome of the last general election.

Mr Yates told the committee he is “in the opinion business”.

“When they hear Ivan Yates, they're not getting an impartial someone who's moderating,” he said.

“They're getting an opinion. The same when you pick up a paper; You've news, and then you've opinion.

“I am in the opinion business, and so therefore I don't think that people expect anything from me other than being anti-woke, pro-Trump, whatever it might be. Things that you would find totally obnoxious.

“But please don't say that I'm this impartial guy. People are upset about my impartiality. I was never impartial.” 

Fianna Fáil TD Pádraig O’Sullivan asked Mr Yates to answer several questions as he “genuinely [felt] that I might get even a nugget of an answer from you, whereas I probably won't from my own party”.

He noted that on an episode of Path to Power that Mr Yates said Billy Kelleher was “not a winner” on September 6. This was before Fianna Fáil politicians voted on whether to pick Mr Kelleher or Mr Gavin as their candidate.

Mr Yates insisted that he had “no contact” with the Gavin campaign until September 23, and that he did not know he would be providing training when the comments were made.

He said media reports from 2022 noted he was providing training to some Fianna Fáil politicians.

He confirmed the “first contact” he received from Fianna Fáil regarding training was from a former producer on the Tonight Show, who became a party “press officer”. Siobhan Russell, the party’s former head of press, worked on The Tonight Show as a producer from 2017 to 2020. She has been an adviser for transport minister Darragh O’Brien since the formation of the government in January.

Mr Yates insisted she was not involved in the “subsequent” arrangements and there were no “mates’ rates” provided for his services, adding he was “not that reasonable”.

At an earlier sitting of the Oireachtas Media Committee, Coimisiún na Meán stated that any onus to declare conflicts of interest is on the broadcaster rather than the contributor.