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Minister for Communications Patrick O\u2019Donovan is to meet with RTE officials (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\nThe T\u00e1naiste has criticised an apparent \u201cupstairs-downstairs\u201d situation at RT\u00c9 as station bosses are to be brought before the Department of Communications following a fresh payment controversy.<\/p>\n
Communications Minister Patrick O\u2019Donovan is due to meet with RT\u00c9 bosses on Tuesday evening after it was revealed that Derek Mooney has been at least its ninth highest-paid presenter since 2020 \u2013 but had not featured in annual lists as he was classified as a producer.<\/p>\n
He has also said he wanted to \u201cflesh out\u201d why RT\u00c9 paid Claire Byrne and Ray D\u2019Arcy almost \u20ac100,000 after they left Radio One.<\/p>\n
The Cabinet is also considering legislation that would move RT\u00c9 under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General.<\/p>\n
Minister for Communications Patrick O\u2019Donovan is to meet with RTE officials (Brian Lawless\/PA)<\/p>\n
Speaking to reporters before Tuesday\u2019s Cabinet meeting, T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris said: \u201cI think there\u2019s a lot of hard work and decent people in RT\u00c9 who will feel let down by this latest set of revelations.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI don\u2019t want to push to personalise it to anyone, because I think that serves no purpose, but it\u2019s beginning to look like there\u2019s a little bit of an upstairs-downstairs situation going on in RTE, that certain producers can be over here, and that\u2019s not fair. It\u2019s not fair in any organisation.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, there\u2019s a fairness issue here, there\u2019s a transparency issue here, and then there\u2019s just an accuracy issue here, fairness, transparency and accuracy. And we need all three of them to ensure we don\u2019t have Groundhog Day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Harris said a lack of transparency was not acceptable to the Irish public as he criticised a \u201cdrip-feed\u201d of information.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cNone of this \u2018will there be another revelation?\u2019, no salacious detail \u2013 we just need facts, information and transparency.\u201d<\/p>\n
Mr O\u2019Donovan said he expected to get \u201cclarity\u201d from RT\u00c9 in the meeting and to find out who to blame in the wake of the further financial issues.<\/p>\n
There is a lot of hurt in the organisation because people thought this is the end of it, and clearly it is not<\/p>\n
Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan<\/p>\n
Ahead of a Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning, he said: \u201cWe\u2019ve been down this road before, and here we are again.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said RT\u00c9 staff are \u201cvery aggrieved\u201d and that he had received anonymous correspondence from staff at the broadcaster.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a lot of hurt in the organisation because people thought this is the end of it, and clearly it is not.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said there cannot be a \u201cvacuum\u201d in the company and that they cannot have a \u201crelationship built on revelation\u201d.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Donovan criticised the \u201crecategorisation\u201d of Mr Mooney as a producer, adding: \u201cIt\u2019s a very fancy word \u2013 I don\u2019t know if the public will understand it \u2013 I never heard of it until last week.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also questioned why RTE waited weeks to bring the matter to his department.<\/p>\n
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Taoiseach Micheal Martin said there were further concerns about RT\u00c9. Photo: Brian Lawless\/PA.<\/p>\n
Taoiseach Miche\u00c1l Martin said bringing RTE under the aegis of the Comptroller and Auditor General would create \u201ca more structured framework for accountability\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said the revelations on Mr Mooney had created concerns, as he stressed it was \u201cessential\u201d to maintain confidence in the public service broadcaster.<\/p>\n
Asked about an ongoing process in which a change consultant has been brought into RT\u00c9, Harris said there were a lot of hardworking people in the broadcaster but taxpayers \u201cquite rightly\u201d had some concerns.<\/p>\n
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