Updated: 9.30am
One of the first tasks facing RTÉ's new director general Kevin Bakhurst must be to "root out the insider culture", Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster has said.
Ms Munster's comments come ahead of Ryan Tubridy and Noel Kelly's appearance before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC), of which she is a member, on Tuesday.
She told Newstalk Breakfast that when Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly appear before the PAC they will have to clarify details of the tripartite agreement with RTÉ and Renault, specifically about a video call meeting that took place on May 7th, 2020.
"Who was involved?" Ms Munster queried, adding: "We also need to know about the letter of comfort from the [then] director general [Dee Forbes] guaranteeing Mr Tubridy no reduction in pay, and we also need to know about the salary figures that were published, which we now know were incorrect.
"Who knew about those? And we'd also be interested in hearing what Mr Tubridy was told of the audit and what was to come out, and did that influence his decision to step down?"
Ms Munster said a lot of the questions will be directed at both Mr Tubridy and Mr Kelly, seeking clarity about the consultancy fees, the processing of these invoices, and who had suggested that they be classified as consulting fees.
Ultimately, RTÉ's executive board "allowed this to happen," Ms Munster said.
"I keep saying this is top management – top management, the director, the executive board, allowed all this to happen.
"Had they not agreed to underwrite the agreement for these secret deeds, then that money wouldn't have cost the taxpayer €345,000. At the end of the day, the buck stops with top management."
Ms Munster said there is no doubt that there was a "huge task" ahead of Mr Bakhurst "to root out that and change RTÉ culture in its entirety".
She added that he must also address "serious inequality" at RTÉ, claiming there is "one law for them, one law for others".
"The forensic accounting is going in to examine everything. It's clear there's a two-tier system that has operated in RTÉ for a long, long time, and workers are so justified in their anger," Ms Munster said.
Top down
The PAC's vice-chair, Social Democrats TD Catherin Murphy, also told RTÉ radio's Morning Ireland that they will be seeking to establish who were the participants in the deal regarding Mr Tubridy which was finalised in May 2020.
She said the fourth person at that meeting "may be able to help us", adding it is important to get all the details about who was behind such a convoluted agreement and why RTÉ had to go through a company owned by Mr Kelly, NK Management.
"He will be well-placed to answer some of those questions for us, which are questions that have been hanging in there, raised on week one when this issue emerged in the public arena," Ms Murphy said.
A key issue was whether the tripartite demand come as a surprise, she added.
Ms Murphy said she found it extraordinary that the then director general was involved in such negotiations.
"I would have thought that that would be highly unusual.
"We need to close off those questions, and it's very useful that we're having this meeting today, because we're having the other meeting with Kevin Bakhurst and other senior staff members who are all here on Thursday.
"It's very useful that we can see other outstanding issues, that we can then address to the management team," she said.
Changing the culture within RTÉ is going to be a slow process, Ms Murphy warned, adding that it needs to happen from the top down rather than the bottom up.
