Catherine Martin faces Oireachtas showdown over RTÉ's 'golden handshakes'

With the political issue of RTÉ’s governance showing no sign of dying down anytime soon, Media Minister Catherine Martin faces tough questions

Media Minister Catherine Martin is to come before the Oireachtas media committee on Tuesday at 7pm.

How has it come to this?

What started with an RTÉ statement about misstated payments to Ryan Tubridy in June of last year has rumbled into a ninth month saga, claimed the radio spot of the former Late Late Show host, seen members of the executive of the broadcaster resign or retire early, and now sees RTÉ without a chairperson.

Along the way, there have been Oireachtas committees, Dáil debates, TV and radio interviews, newspaper articles, and blanket coverage on social media.

And, still, the political issue of RTÉ’s governance does not go away.

Tuesday at 7pm, Media Minister Catherine Martin will face questions from the Oireachtas Media Committee, as pressure mounts on her following a weekend of claims and counter-claims about what her department knew about so-called “golden handshakes” at the national broadcaster and whether RTÉ has been completely forthcoming on the issue.

Government colleagues do not believe that Ms Martin is in any immediate jeopardy over her handling of the issue, but some are not wholly impressed at the nature of the ongoing controversy.

The consensus across the board is that this latest chapter, in which Ms Martin appeared on national TV and effectively fired RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh — saying that she had been “misinformed” about former chief financial officer Richard Collins’ exit package.

Ms Martin told RTÉ’s Prime Time last Thursday that she sought several assurances from Ms Ní Raghallaigh that the board had no role in approving exit packages. She said that it had been revealed that the board approved Mr Collins exit package through its remuneration committee.

Ms Martin said that she had been “misinformed” about the matter and that she had written to Ms Ní Raghallaigh over the matter, but the board chair was out of the blocks before she could be summoned and her resignation landed in inboxes at 12.48am — with a statement from director general Kevin Bakhurst shortly after.

From looking in command on the airwaves to presiding over a mess in just a couple of hours, it was hard to see how Ms Martin had not countenanced that her appearance would lead to Ms Ní Raghallaigh jumping before she was pushed. At a press briefing last Friday, Ms Martin insisted she is “doing her best” in a very difficult situation after the resignation.

For the minister, the controversy comes down to one thing: She asked direct questions of Ms Ní Raghallaigh during two meetings last week, but failed to get straight answers. In her reasoning, this was not acceptable and it’s hard to disagree.

“I asked the chair at two meetings this week on Monday and again in detail on Wednesday, if she or the board played any role whatsoever in approving either of the two recent severance packages to senior RTÉ executives. I was told clearly that they did not — neither she nor the board.”

Ms Martin said officials in her department subsequently got a call on Thursday from Ms Ní Raghallaigh “saying that she had now remembered that that was inaccurate information. She had now remembered that the committee that she chaired had actually approved it”.

Over the weekend, however, RTÉ hit back.

RTÉ board chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh announced she was stepping down from her position last Friday morning, saying she no longer had the confidence of Media Minister Catherine Martin. Picture: Eamonn Farrell/Rollingnews.ie

The broadcaster stated that Ms Ní Raghallaigh told the now former secretary general at the Department of Media, Katherine Licken, on October 10 that the board’s remuneration committee had approved an exit package for Mr Collins. This was coupled with a revelation that three senior officials in the department were present when RTÉ outlined the process in agreeing packages to the Dáil Public Accounts Committee. This would contradict the minister’s reasoning for not having faith in the former chair.

Ms Martin does not frequently make herself available to the media, preferring to do broadcast interviews, so it was surprising to read one Sunday paper contend that she was not anticipating a question on her confidence in the RTÉ board, given that this had been cause for much focus in the days leading up to her Prime Time appearance.

Even had it not specifically been, it would seem appropriate to have prepared an answer, just in case.

Either way, many in Government were surprised at just how forthright Ms Martin was. What surprised people more was that there was doubt around it all. “Her reputation has gone up in flames,” a Cabinet source told this paper.

With the opposition demanding a questions-and-answers session in the Dáil, Ms Martin faces a showdown with the Media Committee at 7pm on Tuesday.

RTÉ has taken up a considerable amount of time and oxygen at these committees, and some who sit on them would rather move on.

However, the tendency of the meetings to throw up new details and new controversies hasn’t yet allowed that.

Come 10pm Tuesday night, Ms Martin will need to be able to draw a line under this chapter of the affair, knowing that two reports which she ordered into the broadcaster will be published soon and will take the focus off exit packages.

Whether that is possible or not, all depends on what kind of week the Media Minister has.