‘At some point, we have to move on’ from the Marty Morrisey car controversy, The Home Show’s Sinead Ryan has said.

Yesterday the RTÉ Sport presenter confirmed that he was the RTÉ staff member who had been handed the use of a car over a period of five years.

He said he had accepted the car in an “informal” arrangement with Renault in return for acting as master of ceremonies at around a dozen events for the brand.

He said he did not receive any fee for his work on the events and he viewed his use of the car as a “very ad hoc arrangement that did not affect my work with RTÉ”.

On Lunchtime Live this afternoon, Sinead said the issue is on the minor end of the scale when it comes to the RTÉ saga over the last few weeks.

“In relation to the Marty Morrisey section of this story, I think, yes, we have to move on,” she said.

“I mean the RTÉ thing overall will spin out as it will.

“You know there are very few stories that would garner headlines, I mean the top headlines, for the best part of two or three weeks that didn’t involve a natural disaster and I just think there has been a lot of navel-gazing on the story.

“Certainly, the part on Marty Morrisey, look, I put up a tweet where I called it a venial rather than a mortal sin, but I do think, in the grand scheme of things, it is probably on the lesser end of the revelations that have come up.”

In any other sphere this would be A-ok. A benefit in lieu of fee from a grateful company. He wasn't taking a car allowance, didn't charge & had permission.
At some point, we have to move on here. I don't know Marty, but let's call this one a venial rather than a mortlar. https://t.co/3d1GNJSgLw

— @sinead_ryan (@sinead_ryan) July 6, 2023

In his statement yesterday, Morrisey said he decided it had been an “error of judgement” to accept the car when the RTÉ payments controversy broke.

He told RTÉ about the arrangement after all staff were asked to tell the broadcaster about any commercial engagements, gifts and potential conflicts of ineptest they may have.

He said he had returned the car towards the end of last month.

RTE reporter Marty Morrissey reporting from Jones's Road outside Croke Park before the Dublin - Kerry All-Iireland final.

Sinead said she has no doubt Morrisey could have commanded a fee of ‘a couple of thousand euro’ for each event if he had charged for them.

“Renault said to him, ‘Listen, you’ve to get around the country to get to these gigs, take one of our cars as long as you need it,” she said.

“Like, it happens. It might not be above board and tied off with a bow and there is possibly a tax implication which we don’t know anything about, but it’s a private business.

“To be honest with you, I just can’t get as excited about that as I can for instance paying top staff members to go off to the Japan World Cup and to see Robbie Williams and all that kind of thing.”

Marty Morrissey in 2019. Image: Sam Boal/RollingNews

She noted that she does not know the presenter personally and does not follow the GAA.

“We all know people who do personal events and they get paid for them or they do them for free or for charities,” she said.

“I just don’t see this as the big sin. Certainly, I wouldn’t have thought it is career-ending or anything.”

RTÉ Executives arrive Government Buildings, 29-06-2023. Image: Norma Burke/RollingNews

Sinead said she did not want to minimize the RTÉ controversy in any way, but suggested that some of the coverage has been questionable.

“I just feel there is a lot of schadenfreude,” she said.

“You know people like bashing public bodies and they certainly like bashing celebrities and well-known people – that’s fine but we have to put it in context of other world events, Irish events.

“Things that have taken place in the last couple of weeks; quite a number of tragic deaths, there is a climate crisis, and it is not whataboutery but we have to see it in that context.”

She said the RTÉ reviews are now going to take a minimum of six months and the coverage will eventually have to die down a bit.

“It is important and it’s public money, and it all has to be revealed but I think it is all kind of – people like the public element of it and these are all stars and celebrities and there is always that element to it,” she said.

“I’m just wondering if, for instance, it was a public planning body or the HSE or some other kind of less enticing element would we be as excited about it – and I’m not sure the answer to that would be yes.”

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