Entire culture of stars at RTÉ has done desperate damage to the broadcaster

The story of RTÉ’s agonies is an important one for politics, society and media. Our democratic system relies on an informed electorate and trust in RTÉ – as the most important media outlet with the greatest reach – is essential. You can tell that by the way its enemies have consistently tried to undermine it. So how RTÉ does its job has an importance far beyond Montrose.

So let me say three things briefly about it. The first is that, however it was implemented – and I rather fear we shall spend weeks and weeks finding out – the intention to deceive inherent in the arrangements for paying Ryan Tubridy was unforgivable. The payments were concealed because RTÉ wanted to show the public and the Government that it had imposed greater pay cuts on its top earner than was the reality. Everyone involved in this should be held accountable.

The second thing is that the entire culture of stars at RTÉ is one that I think has done desperate damage to the station and to the connection it enjoys with its audience and public. RTÉ presenters are mostly a talented and accomplished bunch, mostly good at what they do. But the practice of separating them from their colleagues and treating them as a distinct and elevated class – not always bound by the usual rules, customs or loyalties, and endlessly promoted across television and radio – is one which should be closely looked at by the new management. It sometimes seems that the station regards the personalities as more important than the work.

[ Justine McCarthy: Tubridy is paying a high price for not exposing RTÉ's deceit ]

[ Diarmaid Ferriter: Culture of ‘open secrets and secret secrets’ has always surrounded RTÉ pay ]

My guess is that the culture of stars has grown during a long period of timid management, when RTÉ was beset with other financial problems, and boosted by the undoubted abilities of super-agent Noel Kelly in securing lucrative deals for his clients. But neither Kelly’s priorities, nor his interests, are those of RTÉ. And come on – are the stars really that important? Are they really – as RTÉ likes to promote them – “Ireland’s best-loved personalities”? Along with the culture of stars has been the culture of star-worship, and that is not a healthy thing for RTÉ. A period of humility would not be misplaced.

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[ Noel Kelly: Who is the behind-the-scenes agent, seen as RTÉ's ‘real director general’? ]

Notwithstanding the talents that Tubridy and his fellow stars bring to their jobs, RTÉ could manage without them and keep its core mission of public service broadcasting intact. As De Gaulle said, the cemeteries are full of indispensable men.

The third thing to say is: yes, the RTÉ story is important; but no, it’s not that important. It has dominated the domestic news agenda in a way that no story has since the pandemic. We all may have lost just a little bit of perspective.

Here’s a few things that have been going on since Tubsgate exploded and which might just be, in the great scheme of things, a bit more important than even the comings and goings of the infamous barter account.

There was what looked like an attempted coup in the world’s most dangerous country. The events focused minds from Washington to Beijing on what a post-Putin Russia would look like, and reminded them it might come sooner rather than later. Events this week suggest that it is likely to be marked by violence, disorder and possibly disintegration. As Foreign Policy magazine noted, Yevgeny Prigozhin’s near-success is a good reminder that if Putin is ousted, whoever replaces him is likely to be just as nationalistic and authoritarian. Maybe more so. This has obvious implications for the countries bordering Russia, and not just the ones in Nato and the EU. No amount of warbling about peace and neutrality from Áras an Uachtaráin will insulate Ireland from the world it must navigate in the future.

[ Tubridy tumult saturates RTÉ: ‘The consequences are felt every hour in this building’ ]

[ Wagner mutiny unlikely to upset Arab governments’ relations with Russia ]

The International Organisation for Migration this week updated its number for people who have died crossing the Mediterranean this year – nearly 2,000 so far, and that’s probably a big underestimate, the IOM says, because of the number of “ghost shipwrecks” that are never detected. Driven by conflicts such as the one in Sudan, by climate change and by economic desperation, thousands are making the perilous journey in rickety boats, often arranged by smugglers who don’t care if they live or die. At its summit in Brussels, the EU continued to wrangle over what to do with them when they arrive.

The US supreme court effectively ended affirmative action. The UK supreme court threw out a government scheme to send its asylum seekers to Rwanda. Left populist party Syriza, which rose to power in Greece during the financial crisis, was crushed in a general election. There were riots on the streets of Paris.

I could go on, but you get the picture. One final point. Many of these events are happening out in the big bad world that Irish journalists, in my experience, are very keen to report on. Organisations much smaller than RTÉ – and ones which pay their own way in the world without the benefit of mandatory contributions from the public, including The Irish Times – maintain wide networks of staffers and contributors globally. Yet beyond the very few foreign bureaux that it maintains, RTÉ either relies on other media outlets to provide it with world news coverage, or doesn’t cover it at all. Car crashes and court cases are easier and cheaper to cover than international stories, I suppose.

Maybe the new regime at RTÉ will care less about fluffing Ireland’s best-loved personalities, and more about telling us what’s going on in the world. That might be more useful than reforming how the barter account is used.