RTÉ Payments Scandal

Elaine Byrne: RTÉ showed up but many organisations thumb their noses at Oireachtas committees

It was a good week for politicians as they put the national broadcaster in the spotlight but many companies and state bodies refuse to attend when invited for questioning

RTÉ board members and executives (left to right), Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins, staff representative to the board Robert Shortt, Interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch, Chairperson of the board Siun Ni Raghallaigh, Strategy Director Rory Coveney, board member Anne O'Leary and Commercial Director Geraldine O'Leary leave Leinster House last week

It has been a good week for Oireachtas committees. Both the Arts and Media committee and the Dáil Public Accounts Committee acquitted themselves well in their sustained grilling of members from the RTÉ Board and executive.

Politicians extracted breathtaking information from the largest media organisation in the country. The tables were turned. It was politicians, not journalists, who were breaking the biggest story of the week, live on Oireachtas television. Indeed, newspapers ranked the politicians ...