Inné, nochtadh arís cultúr na teidlíochta in RTÉ. Thug an ard-stiúrthóir le fios go raibh pacáiste fágtha de €450,000 tugtha don iar-phríomhoifigeach airgeadais, Breda O'Keeffe. Tá sé soiléir anois nach bhfuil muinín ag an phobal as an chraoltóir seirbhíse poiblí a thuilleadh agus níl consias ná freagracht ann.

Once again we see the culture of entitlement, at RTÉ. It was unveiled for all of us to see before the Oireachtas media committee yesterday. The new director general, Kevin Bakhurst, confirmed that RTÉ's former chief financial officer, Breda O'Keeffe, walked away from her job with a €450,000 redundancy package, except this was not a redundancy package because her job was never eliminated. Furthermore, that package was not signed off by RTÉ's executive board, as required. Instead, it was cooked up between Ms O'Keeffe and the former director general, Dee Forbes.

This was a golden handshake to the value of ten times the average salary in the State cooked up behind closed doors, with no sign off, no tax paid and no disclosure until yesterday. You could not make it up. It is damning. People are sick to their back teeth of what is going on and what has gone on in RTÉ.

We also learned that there were others involved. Rory Coveney resigned just last year from RTÉ. We are told he was the driving force behind the fiasco that was Toy Show The Musical, which lost €2.2 million of taxpayers' money. Yet he gets a secret golden handshake at the taxpayers' expense. We do not know the details of this. Does the Tánaiste? If not, will the Government demand this information from RTÉ? How many others have received secret golden handshakes in the last period? Is it any wonder that compliance with payment of the TV licence has fallen off a cliff? This is because the public have lost confidence in the governance of the public sector broadcaster. This is a very dangerous place to be.

The State and its citizens rely on RTÉ to hold those in power to account and for trusted, reliable news and current affairs coverage. It cannot fulfil its obligations if there is no accountability. That is what is missing here.

The Tánaiste said he supports the measure that those who have not paid their TV licence be dragged before the courts and be jailed if needs be. There are now more than 300,000 households that have not paid their TV licences. However, the executives in RTÉ can walk away into the sunset with €450,000 in their back pockets and what? There is no accountability and there are no consequences.

In any other workplace, a person who walks off the job and quits only gets what he or she is entitled to, no more, no less. People are not even entitled to social welfare payments for a period. However, an RTÉ executive can walk off the job and receive €450,000 of taxpayers' money. It is a joke and people are demanding accountability. It is one rule for the privileged and another for ordinary workers. Yet we have heard from the Tánaiste - I am sure we will hear it again - and from the Taoiseach and from the Minister, Deputy Catherine Martin, who all say there will be accountability. We have seen no accountability in the past eight months. We were told that the process of accountability in RTÉ had begun. Is there accountability when those centrally involved in a financial scandal that has brought RTÉ into disrepute are able to walk off into the sunset with undisclosed exit packages that it seems they were not contractually entitled to? When will there be consequences for those who have breached the public trust and for those who played fast and loose with taxpayers' money? That is what ordinary people the length and breadth of this State are asking. Does the Tánaiste support Sinn Féin's calls for the full details of the process that led to these secret redundancy packages and golden handshakes, including those made to Rory Coveney and whoever else got them, to be made public as a matter of urgency? Crucially, and above all else, when will there be accountability? That is what people demand.

RTÉ is funded by a combination of the licence fee, taxpayers' money and advertising revenue. Essentially, the RTÉ licence money is the public's money. Where public money forms the bulk of any organisation's revenue, there should be full transparency and accountability to the public. What has happened is unacceptable. There should be no secrecy in respect of any package which any executive received from RTÉ. All such packages should be in accordance with proper frameworks, procedures and controls that exist in an organisation. RTÉ had controls and procedures but they were clearly not adhered to in one particular case, it seems. What should happen in this case is the correct amount for the exit package should apply. I do not have any details of any package, including Mr. Coveney's package, who the Deputy referenced. He slyly insinuated that I might but I do not.

Hands off.

Yes, hands off. Government can never interfere with a public service broadcaster. There has always been a hands-off and an arm's-length approach. I can remember as a young student when people accused governments of the day of interfering too much in RTÉ in terms of editorial control or saying that RTÉ should not publish this or should not criticise that. That was an earlier debate in society which I thought everyone had agreed to, that we should keep at arm's-length from the broadcaster in respect of editorial control or trying to manipulate it. That does not mean that RTÉ does not have to adhere to the proper norms and frameworks around redundancy packages and dealing upfront with the Revenue. All of that is obviously something the Minister is very concerned about. That is why the Minister has initiated a variety of reports in respect of governance and culture in RTÉ. It is not an acceptable culture. There is no difference in our position here in respect of this.

We should not be putting words in people's mouths. I am not on record anywhere as saying that people should be dragged before the courts. I never said that but just now, the Deputy said that I did. We need honesty, complete transparency and accountability. I have never set myself up as judge and executioner of anybody in society. I mean that. We have to be careful too and there should be full accountability before the committees of the House. However, those committees must also balance that with due process. I respectfully suggest that has not always been the case in the past in terms of how committees conducted inquiries.

The current committees are doing a good job. In fairness to the arts and culture committee, it has done good public service in revealing a lot of this which would not have been revealed without the work of our Oireachtas committees. I think the members of the committee, chaired by Deputy Niamh Smyth, have elicited information for the public which we would not have been presented with otherwise. That is good and I would like to see more of that. I would like to see everybody involved come before the Oireachtas committees. I acknowledge that if people are in ill health it is difficult. I respect that principle but I think we should look at other mechanisms by which people could give their account of what happened. Perhaps the Oireachtas or the committees responsible could look at those who have not come forward.

The Tánaiste says he wants full accountability but I ask him where it is. We were led to believe that, in the last year, people who were involved in the financial scandals were forced to resign. However, yesterday we find out that they were actually given secret golden handshake payments and that the current management of RTÉ introduced confidentiality clauses. Where is the accountability? The Tánaiste says he wants full transparency regarding the packages. What does he say about Rory Coveney's package and the other packages where confidentiality clauses were entered into? That just happened eight months ago. I invited the Tánaiste to do this. Does he support our call on RTÉ that all packages, redundancy payments and golden handshakes be made transparent to the public who are funding them in the first place?

What, if anything, is the Government going to do in respect of accountability? I make the point genuinely. There are 300,000-plus families who have stopped paying for their TV licences.

Thank you, Deputy.

The Government's view is that they should be brought before the court and should be prosecuted.

Thank you, Deputy. Time is up, please.

Some of them may end up in prison for a short time.

Please, Deputy.

There is no accountability.

Please, Deputy. The time is up.

What is the Tánaiste saying about the accountability of the executives who caused financial scandals and are walking into the sunset with hundreds of thousands of euro in taxpayers' money in their back pockets?

The Deputy clearly did not listen to my original reply. I said there should be full transparency in respect of everybody who got a package from RTÉ. That is my view. It is public money; it is licence fee money and taxpayers' money. There must be full transparency in respect of any individual. I said that already.

This has been going on for decades.

In terms of the licence fee, Sinn Féin's alternative budget for last year, which was published only four months ago, did not mention, let alone budget for, its plan to scrap the licence fee.

We actually did.

You did not.

There is a contingency fund of over €800 million.

It would cost in excess of €150 million.

A contingency fund.

It includes media.

The other point I will make is that the other fundamental problem with the amnesty proposal is that for the hundreds and thousands of people who paid the licence fee down through the years, it is an incredible insult. "Fools you were to pay" is what Sinn Féin is saying to them. What does that mean for other bills that people pay? What Sinn Féin is saying to people is, "Don't bother paying your bills. Don't pay any kind of bill."

Who is dishonest now? Who is dishonest now?

That is what Sinn Féin is saying.

The Tánaiste will not answer the question about accountability.

"We will look after you at the end of the day." That is what Sinn Féin is saying. It is saying it does not have to provide for it in alternative budgets.

The only person who is held accountable is the mother who cannot pay for her TV licence.

For those who have paid their licence fees over the years, that was an incredible slap in the face. The Deputy has basically-----

Do you know what is a slap in the face? The slap in the face is €450,000.

Will the Deputy please respect the orders of the House? The Tánaiste's time is up.

I wish to say finally that what Sinn Féin has basically said to the Irish people is, "Why bother to pay any bill?".

That is completely and utterly dishonest. It is completely and utterly dishonest and-----

Deputy-----

----- the Tánaiste has nothing to say about accountability.