'I was declined' - Fine Gael minister claims RTÉ interview was axed at last minute
The Communications minister claims the interview with RTÉ was cancelled suddenly, sparking fresh questions around the national broadcaster
Patrick O'Donovan has claimed he was dropped from a scheduled interview on RTÉ with just a minute's notice, in the latest twist of the broadcaster's ongoing controversies.
The Fine Gael minister for Communications, who has been outspoken in recent days over issues surrounding transparency and payments within RTÉ, said he had been due to appear for an interview on Morning Ireland on Tuesday before being informed at the last minute that it would no longer go ahead.
"I was due to go on RTÉ, but a minute to being on RTÉ, for some reason, I was declined," he told Anton Savage on Newstalk Breakfast.
He continued to say that the public should know what everyone is earning in RTÉ, which is why they were "coming under" the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General.
The minister has been heavily critical of RTÉ in recent months, particularly amid renewed scrutiny surrounding presenter payments and governance issues having previously warned that the broadcaster risked losing public trust if reforms were not fully implemented.
"I'm bringing forward proposals to have the C&AG appointed as the auditor. So I think in many ways we'll arrest an awful lot of these questions that continue to come up time in, time out," he told Anton Savage.
"Why is it that the auditor didn't see this, that, or the other thing? From now on, the members of the public accounts committee will have direct engagement with the auditor, who will be the C&AG.
"And the Comptroller & Auditor General will on an annualised basis go to the accounts, present them and any outstanding issues and it'll be up to the members of the public accounts committee then to dissect them, which should be the case for every penny of public money that's been put, as I said a while ago," he added.
The latest development comes during a tense period in the relationship between Government and RTÉ, with debates continuing around editorial independence, accountability and public confidence in the broadcaster.
RTÉ has not yet publicly commented on the minister's claims.