The protest at RTÉ at lunchtime on Tuesday was an emotional affair as staff members from Montrose spoke of their hurt, disappointment and anger at the way a small number of managers had betrayed and badly damaged the organisation and those who worked for it following the discovery of hidden payments to presenter Ryan Tubridy.
Many, like Midlands Correspondent Sinéad Hussey, spoke of their pride at being staff at the public service broadcaster they had long wanted to work for.
Close to tears as she spoke about the events of the past few days, the reporter said she and her colleagues had been put in the position of having to fight to regain public trust because of acts of dishonesty and a lack of transparency they had nothing to do with.
Then there was the nuts and bolts of how the money found for one of the station’s star names might have been better spent.
“We work really hard,” she said. “We ask for resources. We’re told there’s no money. And then we hear that this is going on. It’s very hard to take.”
In the great, corporate scheme of things the few hundred thousand euro involved might not have made a tremendous difference to the wider public impression of RTÉ's output but it hurt, one speaker after another confirmed, to hear that it had been siphoned off to top up an already huge salary.
Caoimhe Ní Laighin, of the Irish language news department, said her area often hadn’t an allocated camera at all at weekends and had to cadge favours from their English language colleagues.
Political correspondent Paul Cunningham pointed to all the freelances offered “a pittance” for their work and told they could “take the high road” if it was not enough for them. Continuity and weather presenter Trevor Keegan, meanwhile, described himself as one of the “the so-called bogus self-employed people”.
“It took Revenue to tell me that I was not self-employed but employed by RTÉ and that they should pay my PRSI and while they just about did that they have fought us constantly as we have fought for our rights, our holiday pay and other entitlements. Yet they can casually pay the top presenter in the organisation another €345,000. I think this organisation needs to get its house in order and prioritise all of its people”.
Others, from Siptu, Equity and the wider group of unions stood up in front of the crowd of around 200 and echoed the themes ... most commonly a sense of betrayal and anger that was, they repeatedly gestured, directed towards the top floor of the building they were protesting outside, the one where the company’s senior management reside.
There were numerous calls for root and branch reform of the organisation although Mr Cunningham acknowledged the tone of the debate will be influenced now by outside allegations of untrustworthiness. The question of a more sustainable funding mix, meanwhile, will be kicked down the road by the political establishment for at least a couple of years, he said.
The broadcaster’s legal affairs correspondent, Orla O’Donnell, spoke of the deep concern among staff to protect the integrity of the station’s journalism and the desire to distance themselves in the eyes of the public from what has happened.
The Tubridy payment scandal: what happens next?
Political reporter Jack Horgan-Jones discusses how this hidden payments debacle unfolded, the damage it has already done and what happens next. Presented by Bernice Harrison. Produced by Suzanne Brennan.
“We know people are angry, people are upset and we want to show the Irish people that we feel the same, that we do not condone what’s going on. We don’t agree with what has happened. And we want to show them that they can trust us and that we are here to provide fair, impartial public service news and current affairs. That’s what we want to do.”
Nevertheless, “the haters” had been gifted a little more fuel for their fire, suggested a colleague from current affairs.
Asked about whether she felt sorry for Ryan Tubridy amid all the turmoil, Ms O’Donnell’s reply was heavily qualified.
“It’s not nice for anybody to be at the centre of a storm,” she said, “and particularly a storm and that relates to their employer. So of course, on a human level, it’s very difficult for everybody involved, but we need answers now from the people who are responsible for this. The people who signed off on it in this organisation, they’re still here, and they need to come out and answer the questions and tell the entire truth about this matter.”
Beyond that, many of those who had turned out “want them gone”, said Emma O Kelly of the broadcaster’s NUJ chapel which had organised the event.
“We don’t know where it goes from here,” she said, however, “we all want the questions answered, of course. But this needs to be the start of a serious and profound change that would benefit the viewing public, the people who read us online, the people who listen. That’s what we are here for. We are working to honour the trust they have given us. And so I would like to see root and branch reform come out of this process”.
