It has been revealed that senior executives from RTE had sat before the Oireachtas Media Committee and had debated increasing the TV license fee – stating that the public broadcaster was in a difficult financial position.
Wexford Fianna Fáil Senator and member of the Oireachtas Media Committee, Malcolm Byrne, made the statement today when speaking on Morning Mix.
“I sit on the Oireachtas Media Committee where we look at policies with regards to public sector broadcasting and future funding of that model. We have had Dee Forbes and other senior executives from RTE before us. They were clearly not providing us with full information. They were coming in telling us about how difficult a financial position RTE was finding itself in. There was a debate around whether we needed to increase the license fee and so on. While at the same time they knew that that was not the full picture.”
The Senator said that this is potentially the biggest crises that RTE has ever faced, and that it is about more than just the payments to Ryan Tubridy. He is calling for complete transparency from the public service broadcaster.
RTE staff will stage a lunchtime protest on its campus this afternoon.
The RTE board has says it will release a detailed statement in relation to Mr Tubridy’s pay since 2020 later today.
