Media Minister Catherine Martin does intend to appoint an auditor to RTÉ to review its finances. 

Oireachtas Media Committee Chair Niamh Lynch TD confirmed Ms Martin will invoke the powers in the Broadcasting Act following controversy over finances and internal management. 

Section 109 of the Broadcasting Act enables the Media Minister to appoint a person to examine the financial records of RTÉ when necessary. 

Deputy Smyth told On the Record With Gavan Reilly Ms Martin intends to “investigate exactly what's going on” in RTÉ following controversy over undeclared payments to Ryan Tubridy. 

“I'm pretty certain from speaking with the Minister that it is our intention to protect the staff, to protect RTÉ,” she said.  

“When I say protect, I mean protect that entity of public service broadcasting.” 

RTÉ Board Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh and incoming Director General Kevin Bakhurst have also confirmed they will meet with the Minster for Media Catherine Martin in the coming days.

No redundancies planned

Deputy Smyth also said the Government have no intention of laying off any RTÉ staff following reports from the Irish Mail on Sunday that up to 400 people could be made redundant. 

She also said the Government do not have plans to “split RTÉ in half”, as previous reports suggested the Government intended to fully separately productions between State-funded public broadcasts and commercial productions. 

“I'm assured that that is not the intention of the Government to start making redundancies or a separation,” Deputy Smyth said. “That would be putting the cart before the horse.” 

“What the Minister has done is had intense engagement with the unions and the staff to ensure that there is no collateral damage to the staff.” 

Officials from RTÉ before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee. Image: Oireachtas TV

Communications Professor Jane Suiter said suggestions that the Government would split RTÉ in half and sell 2FM are “premature”. 

“If you put in a new board, and the first thing it has to do is separate the organisation and do a sale of 2FM and have a row with the unions over making 400 people redundant,” she said.

“You don't actually have your focus on the building the organisation and rebuilding trust.” 

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