Niamh Brennan
AS THOSE RTÉ committee hearings concluded this week, the focus moved to the clean up at Montrose, which is being spearheaded by Niamh Brennan (aka Mrs Michael McDowell). The question must be, why.
Last week, media minister Catherine Martin announced “an independent root-and-branch examination of RTÉ”, the main strand of which is a review of the corporate governance and culture. La Brennan has been installed as the chair of a three-person expert advisory committee charged with “identifying any failures or weaknesses in corporate governance”.
Another member here is Margaret Cullen, who is a UCD corporate governance specialist. Niamh Brennan also works out of UCD as academic director of the university’s Centre for Corporate Governance, which happens to be based within the associated Michael Smurfit Graduate Business School. Probably the most high-profile member (this week at least) of the Irish advisory board of the Smurfit school is one Dee Forbes.
Could Martin really not have found someone to chair her expert group who had no such connection to the recently departed RTÉ director general?
When Goldhawk asked if the minister was aware of the link and whether any consideration had been given to this fact, the response from her department was that Brennan is “an eminent expert with a long track record and that was the primary consideration in her appointment”.
Moreover, the good news is that “it is to be expected than an experienced professional of Prof Brennan’s calibre would be fully cognisant and deal professionally with any real or perceived conflicts of interest arising”.
Certainly, she won’t be wasting her valuable time answering too many questions from nosey hacks. Goldhawk wondered if the eminent Niamh Brennan believed it was appropriate for her to chair the expert committee reviewing RTÉ given that Forbes was on that advisory board and whether she had any concerns about independence. She made it very clear she would not be providing any answers.
That’s transparency for ye.
