Minister Catherine Martin has confirmed that two separate reviews will take place of "the fundamental causes of the failures in RTE".
The public service broadcaster is at the centre of a payments scandal after it was discovered Ryan Tubridy was paid €345,000 extra in monies that wasn’t publicly declared over a five year period.
The first review of RTE will "examine and make recommendations on the measures necessary to build stronger governance structures and to reform the organisational culture" within the broadcaster. This review will be overseen by Professor Niamh Brennan, Dr. Margaret Cullen and a third person who will be appointed in the coming days.
The second review will, as expected, examine how external RTE contractors are engaged, the fees paid and a number of important HR matters, with a particular focus on gender equality, diversity and inclusion. It will also include issues that have been raised to Minister Martin by RTE staff representative bodies.
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This review will be overseen by Brendan McGinty, Patricia King and a third person who will be appointed in the coming days. Minister Martin said she expects to receive the final report within six months of the commencement of the examination, and interim reports will be submitted as required.
The Green Party deputy leader will also be using her powers under section 109(7)(a) of the Broadcasting Act to appoint a forensic accountant to examine the books or other records of account of RTÉ in respect of any financial year or other period. This will initially direct its focus on the barter account and address any other off-balance sheet accounts.
Minister Martin added that she intends to meet the incoming Director-General and the Chair of the Board of RTE to discuss how the broadcaster will co-operate with the preparation of reviews and the immediate next steps they will be taking on their part.
She said that the recent revelations are "an affront to everything that public service broadcasting is meant to stand for" and that as a result, the broadcaster has "lost the trust of the people and of its own staff".
"Public service broadcasting is too important to our democracy, our culture and our society to allow RTE to fail. Trust must be restored. RTÉ must restore the values and ideals on which it was founded," she said.
"This can only be accomplished through a wide-ranging and comprehensive examination of the fundamental causes of the failures in RTE, one that also charts a clear path to prevent their recurrence. "
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