Tipperary TD Mattie McGrath is severely critical of the performance of Media Minister Catherine Martin, especially her handling of the crisis at RTE.
Speaking during the time allocated for Dáil statements on RTE Deputy McGrath is of the view that Minister Martin has “neither the energy nor the ability to tackle what he calls the RTÉ omnishambles,”
Deputy McGrath is accusing the Minister of deflecting blame to management and failing to provide oversight and highlighted the recent revelation that the FAI diverted some of its COVID relief funds( almost €1M) toward debt reduction. Minster Martin is also responsible for Sport.
The TD is querying if there is a proper understating of the Minister’s and the board’s duties under the Broadcasting Act . Deputy McGrath is also critical of the fact that the Minister has not changed some of the Government appointed board members – two of whom have been in place since 2014.
The Minister is to meet the RTE board tomorrow which now has 3 vacancies, no chairperson since the resignation of Siún Ní Raghallaigh, last week and no deputy chairperson.
