From the ‘bishop and the nightie’ to Sinn Féin ban – latest RTÉ debacle puts other controversies in the ha’penny place

Former RTÉ chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh, Media Minister Catherine Martin and RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst

John Downing

The marathon RTÉ payments scandal is the daddy of all conflicts for the national broadcast service. There is something farcical about the entire affair – stuffed with missteps, misunderstandings and very public disagreements.

It kicked off last June with revelations of €345,000 overpayments to former star presenter Ryan Tubridy and led to other discoveries which raised huge questions about governance over spending taxpayers’ and licence-payers’ money.