It would be a “huge conflict of interest” for Mary Lou McDonald to be taoiseach in a situation where RTE relied on direct Exchequer funding, Leo Varadkar has claimed.
Mr Varadkar told the Dail on Tuesday that he was concerned about legal action against RTÉ taken by Ms McDonald and other Sinn Féin representatives.
In July 2022, the Future of Media Commission recommended that the current TV licence system for funding public service media be replaced entirely by Exchequer funding derived from general tax revenue.
Ms McDonald had called on Mr Varadkar to make a decision on the recommendation without delay.
However, the Taoiseach told the Dáil on Tuesday: “Exchequer funding means that the Government of the day would control how much money goes to RTÉ and the public service media.
“And I’m looking across at somebody who might be the Taoiseach in the next government who’s currently suing RTÉ and would have a huge conflict of interest and people behind you who have sued RTÉ and taken a lot of money out of RTÉ, which was ultimately taxpayer money by the way, as you pointed out.
“And I think that’s a real concern. We see all over the Western world, democracy being undermined by governments that want to control the purse strings around the media and that’s a real concern that I would have to go down that route.”
He was responding to a question from Ms McDonald who said there had been no accountability since the RTÉ financial controversy emerged last summer.
She said thousands of people had chosen not to pay their TV licence in protest of people “who played fast and loose with taxpayers' money”.
Ms McDonald said the Government had been “behind the curve on every twist and turn of this debacle”.
The Sinn Féin leader said Mr Varadkar was “guilty of gross indecision” and “an alarming but telling lack of curiosity”.
“You still talk about it as though you’re some detached inconsequential observer, you still can’t give straight concrete answers in respect of accountability, in respect of full disclosure of information.
“And it’s not, at this point, good enough for the director general of RTÉ or indeed for yourself as head of Government to continue to dilly-dally and delay.”
The Sinn Féin leader asked Mr Varadkar what steps would be taken to ensure all details of severance packages for executives are published.
She also called for the abolition of the TV licence and for RTÉ to be brought back under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG).
Mr Varadkar said a “drip-feed of revelations” from RTÉ was seriously damaging the organisation.
However, he said RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst had committed to making as much information about exit packages as possible available, pending further legal advice.
He also said Minister for Media Catherine Martin has committed to implementing changes recommended in the upcoming reports from the Government’s two expert advisory committees on governance and culture within RTÉ.
Mr Varadkar said the Government “will take on board” any recommendations in relation to the C&AG.
