An extraordinary week that turned RTÉ drama into crisis for the Coalition

Media Minister Catherine Martin’s clumsy handling of the exit deals affair has made her an easy target for the Opposition

Siún Ní Raghallaigh profile: A ‘valuable ally’ but chair during RTÉ's biggest controversies

Hugh O'Connell

The alarm bells began ringing in Catherine Martin’s head last Sunday when she read that Rory Coveney’s controversial exit package had been approved not only by RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst but its chair, Siún Ní Raghallaigh.

“To me, that simply didn’t make sense,” Martin said later of the report on the front page of the Sunday Times. As far as the media minister understood it, the board did not have a role in approving exit packages for executives. She assumed this was Bakhurst’s responsibility alone.