Dee Forbes banging the RTE TV licence drum again 60m uncollected fee *poll not working - pl ignore*

The Minister is the sole shareholder in RTE i.e. the owner.

Normally where the Board of a company locks heads with the owner, there is only one outcome.

To the best of my knowledge:

1. Yes

2. Yes

3. No. I think she referred to the dept being informed about "the process". This passing of information was so insignificant to dept Sec Gen that she didn't make a note of it. RTE chair seems to attach more significance to it. It seems to be a he said/she said scenario as we have no transcript or recording of the call. (Or do we??)

4. Yes. Legal advice to RTE is to not ignore the confidentiality agreements.

5. Yes he did. He wanted a total figure. He stated that this would preserve confidentiality. Not sure RTE legal advice would agree.

6. Don't know.

Multitasking and not doing it very well. Might also need a new keyboard.

Regards...jmcc

On #3, there has been no evidence produced that information was passed to the sec gen. She has denied it happened according the Catherine martin at the press conference. The only person who says it happened is Siun ni R. Apparently the meeting minutes of the comp review committee from back in Oct state Siun's intention to notify the minister. This jogged her memory last Thursday and she claims she did notify. Who knows what really happened. The sec gen would have to be very incompetant not to attach significance to that as it would have been the first time in this whole mess that an exit package was aprroved by the head of the board. Siun ni R has thrown the ex sec gen under the bus and basically has accused her of not passing on information to the minister. Why the minister has not made a meal of this and defended her ex sec gen and her department shows how weak the minister is and how bad a communicator she is.

Thanks very much for confirming KaneToad - I'll wanted to fact-check those points before commenting further. (Probably later today, need to do a few chores first!)

One apology. I worded question 3 badly.

What I wanted to know/ask was did Martin say on Thursday that she only became aware that day (i.e. Thursday) that the information given to her by Siún (on Monday and again on Wednesday) were incorrect as a result of being told this by one of her officials on Thursday? [It's clear that it was Siún herself that told Martin on Thursday - I'm just seeking to confirm that Martin initially claimed on Thursday that she learned about the misinformation from one of her officials]

Playback did a good recap this morning. It really is a shiit show.

Don't forget Larry Bass,producer of such hits like Dancing With The "Stars" was previously appointed to the RTE board.

That place is an inbred cesspit.

On number 5 don't these have to be reported in the annual report. I posted in this thread the details of Termination Payments to the executive board from the annual reports going back to 2011. And the list of the Executives that may have received those exit payments.

If he becomes chair, it will show that RTE have learnt nothing and are doing nothing positive since this scandal broke.

Chair is appointed by the Minister. AFAIK via the PSA (Public Service Appointment).

Let’s hope they show it. It starts at 7pm which is an unusual time slot for flogging people.

If this takes place behind closed doors, the Politicans will be looking after one of their own.

And by her incompetence, she might appoint him

She really is a poor minister, she want to be friends with everyone

I haven't seen Eamonn Ryan out defending his Green minister. As leader, he should be backing his fellow Green.

I think Minister Martin is toast now. The tide is turning. The FF senator (Malcolm Byrne) on This Week has turned on her. The govt usually send out a senator to do their bidding. Cowardly enough. Tough week in store for Martin. And given that Leo knew she was going on Prime Time and what she would say, we have to ask what he knew.

Eamon is a master funambulist - he successfully walks the fine line between politician and activist - but he must be disgusted and frustrated with the Deputy who was foisted on him by Green Party grassroots to stay out of coalition.

She allowed the RTÉ scandals to snowball for almost a year only to intervene belatedly and to disastrous effect. She also had her wings clipped by a Supreme Court Judge for telling porkies for Yes,Yes. Roderick is backing her on that one but Eamon will stay as far away as he can from these misbegotten referendums. Eamon can’t ditch her (Green Party politics) so he will let her stew in her own mess.

He still hopes FG/FF will need the Greens after the general election but both those parties dread the prospect, to the point where FF have decided to go with SF if absolutely necessary. FG hope the Independents will suffice and might even go into opposition rather than stomach the Greens for another five years.

The Sindo story today about Eamon blocking road projects is an old story re-heated to remind him that FG/FF have run out of patience with Green policies. The Government’s total U-turn on immigration is contrary to everything Roderick and the Greens have been about but it shows the ruthless side of the old parties when they sense a sea-change in public opinion