Irish Examiner view: Minister’s reputation takes a hit over RTÉ debacle

A contentious referendum vote on Friday means an already testing period for the Government has become even more fraught

The lack of direct communication between the RTÉ board and Media Minister Catherine Martin beggars belief. Picture: Brian Lawless/PA

The fallout from Siún Ní Raghallaigh’s hard-hitting statement, released on Monday afternoon, continues to settle on the affected parties.

The former RTÉ chair’s focused dissection of her relationship with Media Minister Catherine Martin has produced several different results. The most immediate is a glimpse behind the curtain, one which has revealed a lack of direct communication between the RTÉ board and the minister — which beggars belief.

The State broadcaster is experiencing a genuine existential crisis, yet — according to Ms Ní Raghallaigh — the minister took a hands-off approach to the matter, with much of the interaction kept between Ms Ní Raghallaigh and department officials. Little wonder Ms Martin’s Cabinet colleagues described themselves as “flabbergasted” by the statement.

Though the Taoiseach noted on Tuesday that Ms Ní Raghallaigh admitted that she had given incorrect information to the minister, there is no doubt that Ms Martin’s reputation has taken a battering in the last 48 hours.

From the Government’s perspective, there is no good time for such a controversy to erupt, but a contentious referendum vote on Friday means an already testing period for the administration has become even more fraught.

This particular twist in the RTÉ controversy has resonance beyond Ms Martin’s political standing.

Getting capable individuals to commit to serving on State boards has been a challenge for successive governments, and such individuals are likely to pay close attention to Monday’s statement.

It is possible that, in the future, when people are approached to serve on similar boards they will seek assurances they will not face a Martin/Ní Raghallaigh situation, where direct communication is practically nil.

Finally, this week’s events show the new chair the size of the task ahead. Former KPMG managing partner and ESB chairman Terence O’Rourke brings a wealth of experience to his new role and, on this week’s evidence, he will need it all.

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Children in Gaza wasting away

It is difficult to say that the conflict in Gaza has reached a new level of savagery or inhumanity, because every day seems to show us another nadir in human behaviour. The revelations from the World Health Organization on Tuesday should give us all pause, however.

Representatives of that organisation succeeded in reaching hospitals in northern Gaza this week for the first time since October, and one of them referred, without exaggeration, to “grim findings” in those facilities.

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus referred to “severe levels of malnutrition, children dying of starvation, serious shortages of fuel, food, and medical supplies, hospital buildings destroyed”. It backs up the Gaza health ministry report last weekend that at least 15 children had died from malnutrition and dehydration at the Kamal Adwan hospital.

The horror of seeing children die due to hunger can hardly be imagined, yet that is the stage Gaza has now reached. We learned last week that dozens of Palestinians were killed by Israeli forces while waiting for a delivery of flour; the desperation of those people for basic foodstuffs is all too explicable in light of the WHO’s revelations. How many of those killed that day were waiting on flour for a starving child at home?

The overall death toll in this conflict continues to rise and has now exceeded 30,000, but that does not seem to have concentrated minds on securing a ceasefire — particularly among those leaders far from Gaza who exert influence on the main actors in the area.

Perhaps learning that children are starving to death in shattered hospitals will galvanise those involved, reminding them of their obligations to humanity in the broadest sense and pushing them to find the common ground needed to cease hostilities.

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Foul fines should be enforced

Change is coming for Ireland’s dog control laws. Social Protection Minister Heather Humphreys told Cabinet that former Garda assistant commissioner John Twomey will chair a new stakeholder group on dog control.

The group is to recommend changes to strengthen Ireland’s laws on dog control and will include representatives of Government departments, the Irish Farmers Association, Dogs Trust, and the ISPCA. This move is laudable.

Readers may be aware of the ongoing controversy in Britain regarding new legislation governing ownership of so-called XL bully dogs, and tightening up our own laws is a good move.

However, is there another aspect of dog control that should be addressed? It emerged in recent weeks, for instance, that not one fine was issued in Cork in all of 2023 for dog fouling — a problem that is familiar to every resident of that city, among others. Indeed, a National Council for the Blind (NCBI) survey showed that just 82 dog fouling fines were handed out by local councils in Ireland throughout 2022.

Dog fouling is not just an inconvenience but a significant public health issue, yet there seems to be no will among local councils to enforce the legislation governing this area.

Earlier this year, Ms Humphreys announced that spot fines for serious dog control offences would be tripled from €100 to €300, while increasing funding to dog warden services. This is a welcome move, but dog fouling appears to be a forgotten issue in comparison — and one that may affect more people than an encounter with an XL bully-type dog.

Similar resourcing of measures to combat this scourge would be welcomed by all.

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