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

There will certainly be some resignations if SF get into government. Apart from the Turbidy payments scandal kicking things off, a competent minister would have dealt with things quickly. She is not a competent minister. Bacik was getting a lot of coverage from RTE last week but now the focus has shifted to SF. The print media is also beginning to shift to an anti-Martin position and that won't have gone unnoticed by FFG. It wouldn't be surprising if Martin's resignation speech is being drafted.

Regards...jmcc

Listening to the Pat Kenny show, Anton Savage is standing in. I didn't get the name of the person he had on talking about this but they were scathing in the how Martin has handled this.

I wouldn't be a fan of the Greens, but I think to a degree that Martin is being hung out to dry for what are actually RTÉ's failings. Ní Raghallaigh shouldn't have "told" her minister about exit packages - it should have been put in writing but apparently wasn't. That's very poor behaviour. As we don't know the amount of detail involved in the "telling", it is hard to pass judgment right now.

On top of that, Martin is waiting on a report. She may have jumped the gun in not expressing confidence in the chair of the board, or she may have felt she was not in a position to do so for very good reasons. When she receives the report (which in any case will be written in we're-not-blaming-anyone-here language) will be time enough to judge her actions. That said, she's a politician, so let's not expect too much at the end of the affair.

She is simply out of her depth. Martin probably expected an easy time as minister but the Tubridy pay scandal and what followed highlighted her limitations and lack of business expertise. She went on Prime Time and effectively fired Ni Raghallaigh but Ni Raghallaigh did the right thing. Now, Katherine Licken, the former head of Martin's department is not to appear before the Media Committee. According to RTE, Martin's Private Secretary has written to the committee to say that

"In a letter to the Media Committee Catherine Martin's private secretary said it would not be appropriate for Ms Licken to attend as part of the Department delegation as she is no longer a member of staff.

They added that as a former officer holder she would not have any standing to report to the committee "in relation to the agenda set out in the committee's letter." "

The committee needs to invite Licken to appear before it.

That's more serious damage to Martin's credibility on the issues. There's video from an appearance before one of the committees with Licken present where the issues were being discussed and clarified. Martin wasn't present. Licken's non-appearance before the committee puts Martin in an even worse position.

Regards...jmcc

Retired, I think.

Regards...jmcc

The video clip at the top of the article gives the main facts. Basically Martin got it wrong about the RTE licence fee warning ads being stopped on platforms other than RTE's and the involvement of her department. Bakhurst stated that the department and An Post were in the loop. What she told an FG TD on a committee was wrong. Now, she has another story.

Regards...jmcc

A communications breakdown? It looks like she hadn't a clue about what was going on in her department or with RTE.

Regards...jmcc

RTE is a highly dysfunctional organisation and it would need people with business expertise and perhaps expertise in forensic accounting to work out what is going on in that organisation. Martin does not have that expertise. The whole thing cascaded out of control with the Tubridy payments scandal. That took out Dee Forbes, Tubridy and a few RTE executives and most recently the chair of the RTE board. And it is still not over. Martin is completely out of her depth on this problem.

Regards...jmcc

It is not just a crisis. It is a business and its corporate politics. She's completely out of her depth.

Regards...jmcc

They wouldn't but they would need to know when to get in people with forensic accounting skills or just basic accounting skills.

It really doesn't look good for Martin with stuff like this coming out. It will probably be brought up at her appearance tonight.

Regards...jmcc

Fionnán Sheahan: Catherine Martin ‘misinformed’ TDs over RTÉ’s decision to halt spending on licence fee adverts

Media Minister forced to change answer after director general Kevin Bakhurst’s statement. Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin says fall off in licence fee revenue should have been a priority. Officials meet every month to discuss ad campaign as €60m in income is lost after scandals

Catherine suddenly finds herself surrounded by supporters today. Nothing changed in reality but the penny dropped over the weekend with FG/FF that Eamon can’t ditch Catherine so they will have to live with her. Pascal (the most credible Minister) was sent out to bat for her even if he couldn’t think of anything she has achieved in nearly four years as Minister. Leo has broken his silence to express “absolute confidence” in the Minister who refused to do the same for her appointee.

Government TDs and Senators will rally round her today so it will look like a typical Opposition tactic, seeking a Ministerial head regardless of the substance of the case.

FO’T has signalled that the liberal media are on board. He calls her the “best Minister for Culture and the Media since Michael D. “ . As Michael D. was famously the first to hold that portfolio, Fintan means all the others were FF/FG so not worth a damn.

Of course Fintan like Paschal can’t recall a single achievement in the past four years but he offers Catherine career advice - get the taxpayer to fund RTÉ in its entirety because private enterprise is to blame for everything that is wrong with Ireland (now that the Catholic Church is gone) and everything would be perfect if the State ran everything. Every year the Government would have to set RTÉ’s entire budget - talk about poisoned chalices, Fintan!

https://www.irishtimes.com/opinion/2024/02/27/catherine-martin-can-save-her-political-career-and-do-something-big-for-irish-democracy/

Don't think it was ever switched on.

Regards...jmcc

It's almost as if Katherine Licken has had her memory wiped clean, like an old hard dive, so she's unable to appear. What a complete obfuscation. Neither Katherine nor Dee have had their data erased.

Call her 'Chicken Licken' on live TV possibly?

Will Henny Penny and Goosey Loosey show up?

Generally the 'Civil Service' proper is well run and accountable. Not sure about other public bodies, quangos or semi-states.

19:00 / 7 PM. It is on the Oireachtas website and also on the RTE News channel. It is scheduled for three hours.

Regards...jmcc