Alan Dillon
THE NEW chairman of the Fine Gael parliamentary party, Alan Dillon, is also leas chathaoirleach of the joint committee on media and a member of the Dáil Public Accounts Committee. One expects, therefore, that he would keep well up to speed on financial developments in RTÉ. This is especially so as the FG TD has been like a dog after a bone, interrogating media minister Catherine Martin about financial shortfalls, the Ryan Tubridy controversy and other matters at RTÉ.
Just days after becoming FG parliamentary party chair last week, Dillon issued a statement endorsing an Irish Independent report that had that day accused RTÉ of withholding documents from the Oireachtas media committee. According to the Indo and Dillon, the broadcaster was responsible for not publicly revealing Tubridy’s correct salary. Dillon demanded to know from RTÉ why it had not provided this information – contained in an internal review – to the committee despite being asked to do so last June.
RTÉ retorted in a response to the Irish Mail on Sunday that it had given hundreds of documents to the Oireachtas committees and that the review cited by Dillon was a “preliminary internal review”. Furthermore, RTÉ’s statement said, that review was forwarded to Grant Thornton to assist in its formal, fact-based review.
“It was not concealed, it was central to this review by Grant Thornton,” the station argued.
The Indo’s Fionnán Sheahan poured withering scorn all over this response and the row is unlikely to end there.
Dillon, too, is likely to continue his charge against the station and maybe against Martin also. Then again, maybe not.
As far back as August 1 last, Alan Dillon had declared: “Minister Martin also needs to publish the latest RTÉ annual report and audited accounts.” Presumably, the vigilant Dillon subsequently kept a beady eye out for the report’s publication and release.
However, at the last meeting of the Oireachtas media committee on October 4, Dillon bombarded Martin with queries and critical remarks about RTÉ and “taxpayers money”, demanding to know what she was going to do about these issues. In full stride, he inquired: “When will the 2022 financial annual reports be published or go to the Cabinet, or have they been published?”
On the surface Martin appeared to show little pleasure by responding: “That is done already. That was a few weeks ago.”
Despite his abiding concern for and mastery of every detail of RTÉ’s finances, Dillon had not noticed reports in all media of RTÉ’s annual report for 2022, which had been released four weeks earlier on September 6. It was covered in some detail by virtually every national media outlet in the country.
