Irish Examiner view: RTÉ is slow to learn from its mistakes
Senior RTÉ executives will face the Oireachtas media committee today. Stock picture: Denis Minihane
The fact that senior RTÉ officials were called in by the media and communications minister yesterday can be described in many ways, but “unprecedented” is not one of them.
Tánaiste Simon Harris used the term “Groundhog Day” about the State broadcaster’s latest shambles, which is an accurate summary.
Once again, we have a controversy about how high-profile presenters in the national broadcaster are paid.
In one sense, the Government has already reacted decisively to this situation by approving legislation to assign the Comptroller and Auditor General as auditor of RTÉ.
This is likely to lead to some searching future encounters between the Public Accounts Committee and RTÉ management when the State broadcaster’s annual accounts are published.
That legislation also means RTÉ will be subject to closer scrutiny from Coimisiún na Meán regarding its performance and funding — another necessary layer of oversight.
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The precise details of the latest imbroglio centre on how producers and presenters are classified in RTÉ for salary purposes.
It is a process which seems far from clear.
In that sense, it has uncomfortable echoes of the Ryan Tubridy furore when it was difficult to get an accurate picture of how much was being paid to high-profile presenters.
If that similarity suggests an organisation slow to learn from past mistakes, this impression was strengthened by the comments of RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst yesterday after his meeting with Mr O’Donovan.
“We have paid a price for that transparency, which is the controversy in the last few days, and that’s disappointing for me because I do want to drive transparency,” Mr Bakhurst said.
“I’ve said that all along. If we pay that kind of price when we discover something we want to put right and put it in the public domain, it’s not an incentive to be more transparent.”
It was curious enough to focus on the tone of the coverage, but saying the controversy was not an encouragement to be frank and open was truly strange.
After all, opacity will hardly restore public faith in RTÉ.
The Dublin Rape Crisis Centre (DRCC) published its annual report yesterday, and it is a shocking revelation of the sheer extent of sexual violence.
It is the report of a full epidemic.
In announcing its publication, the DRCC referred to 2025 as one of “its most demanding and defining years”, and that is no understatement.
The headline figures from the report are staggering. Over the course of last year, there were 23,955 contacts with the DRCC. This is a 5.5% increase compared with 2024, which the organisation said was one of the busiest years ever recorded by the organisation.
Breaking down those figures reveals a terrifying variety of crime from rape (471 clients) to image-based sexual abuse and cyber abuse (15 clients). The fact that 11,600 of last year’s contacts came from repeat callers is testimony to the ongoing abuse faced by many — a horrific detail unto itself.
Some specific challenges of modern life can be seen in this report. Image-based sexual abuse and cyber abuse are depressingly familiar issues to us.
However, it is also clear that Ireland’s mounting homelessness crisis is having a particular impact here.
The report noted that the number of contacts from people experiencing homelessness rose from 200 in 2024 to 300 last year, stating: “People spoke about [being] forced to stay in their living conditions because they were unable to secure other accommodation, and some feared being made homeless should they speak up or act against housemates or live-in landlords who were sexually abusive.”
It is also worth pointing out that DRCC chief executive officer Rachel Morrogh said the continued increase in contacts reflects both growing public awareness and the scale of sexual violence in Ireland.
This is worth acknowledging because while we may find some consolation that such crimes are now being reported, at least, the accompanying conclusion is truly unsettling.
Perhaps it is only now we are coming to grips with the true extent of sexual violence in Ireland.
The numbers released this week should give us all pause, but they should also drive us to improve our response to this epidemic through legislation, enforcement, and resources.
Our national fondness for pets of all kinds is one clearly visible itself all over the country, with dogs in particular to be found accompanying their owners along practically every street and road.
It is safe to assume that there will be general support for legislation which seeks to tackle a long-standing cause for concern: The malign presence puppy farms, commercial dog-breeding operations which are often associated with animal cruelty.
Agriculture minister Martin Heydon’s bill is to target such operations with the aim of giving purchasers “greater confidence and protection when purchasing a dog, ensuring they can see where and how it has been reared”, as reported here by Paul Hosford.
Among the proposed measures are mandatory living requirements and minimum staffing ratios for breeding females on site for commercial dog breeding establishments.
Those are basic requirements, but the fact they are to be enshrined in law underlines how timely this legislation is.
If anything, given the general notoriety of such establishments for quite some time, such puppy farms should have been the focus of strict legislation before now.
It is to be hoped that the bill will be enforced vigorously to prevent any other animals suffering in the future.
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