Terence O’Rourke, the impressively successful accountant from Inniskeen, Co Monaghan, will get the green light from Government this morning to take over at the helm of the troubled RTÉ Board.
It is somewhat fitting that he is also the Chair of the ESB, given that his task at RTÉ will focus on illuminating a dark past and charting a path to a bright future.
But right now, that sparkling future remains as illusory as an oasis in the desert.
This is because RTÉ and the Media Minister continue to be haunted by the past.
Former Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh’s stinging parting statement has left a trail of big questions for Minister Catherine Martin.
There were times during those highly charged Oireachtas committee hearings last year when Siún Ní Raghallaigh seemed somewhat costive.
However, yesterday she unleashed a volley of political charges that have caused no little discomfort within the upper echelons of Government.
The accusation that the Media Minister adopted a hands-off approach to this all-engulfing RTÉ crisis seems particularly potent.
We learned that there were no scheduled formal monthly meetings between the former Chair and the Minister.
Even on the day when this crisis reached its zenith during Catherine Martin’s Prime Time appearance, Siún Ní Raghallaigh said she was unable to speak directly to the Minister.
However, in a reply to a parliamentary question from TD Brendan Griffin, the Minister did give details of meetings with the Chair in February, May, June, July, August, September, October and November last year.
That detail is unlikely to quell the growing sense of unease within the coalition.
In a pointed reaction on social media, the influential Fianna Fáil Senator Timmy Dooley found it “impossible to disagree with anything” in the former Chair’s statement.
Another Fianna Fáil Senator, Malcolm Byrne, was concerned that the Minister told him last week at the Media Committee that she had had monthly meetings with Siún Ní Raghallaigh.
Catherine Martin is adamant though that a Minister needs clear, timely and accurate information from the Chair of a State body. And this is particularly important at such a challenging time in RTÉ’s history.
After all, last month the Minister did twice get incorrect information from Siún Ní Raghallaigh about the exit payment for the former RTE Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins.
But this was corrected on the morning of February 22nd and the then Chair apologised and explained it was down to a lapse in memory.
Moreover, the matter had been addressed comprehensively as far back as October when Siún Ni Raghallaigh told the Department of Media about the Richard Collins exit payment.
Catherine Martin will in the end survive this bruising episode, but her political standing will not be strengthened when the curtain finally falls on this controversy.
