While further revelations about RTÉ payments emerge, one journalist thinks we must ensure the public broadcaster is maintained. 

RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst told the Oireachtas Media Committee that former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe was given a redundancy payout of €450,000. 

While he has promised that the payment reflects the way RTÉ was run under Dee Forbes and will not happen again, many people have once again questioned the functioning of RTÉ. 

Former RTÉ journalist Valerie Cox told The Anton Savage Show it was an “extraordinary” amount of money to hide. 

“It would take most journalists about 10 years to earn that kind of money,” she said.  

“And of course, it wasn't a redundancy payment as claimed, so tax should have been paid - USC or whatever you pay on these payments.” 

She said we are at the “tip of another little iceberg here” and more controversies may emerge. 

Ms Cox herself received €50,000 from RTÉ after the Workplace Relations Commission ruled the broadcaster discriminated against her on age grounds. 

RTÉ's 'death by a thousand cuts'

Irish Times journalist Mark Hennessy agreed the most recent hearing will become “more controversial” but expressed concern for the future of RTÉ. 

“The danger and all of this is that it’s death by a thousand cuts,” he said. 

“One of the important things that we have to be careful about is that we don't end up throwing out the baby with the bathwater. 

“We need a surviving thriving public sector broadcaster, now more than ever, and as you see from the Tucker Carlsons of this world.” 

Ms Cox said RTÉ has been living in a “bubble” when it comes to finances in recent that it must pop before it can continue. 

Mr Bakhurst also told the Oireachtas Media Committee he did not receive a severance deal when he left his role as deputy Director General in 2016. 

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