One of the real ironies of the never-ending RTÉ scandal over undisclosed payments to Ryan Tubridy is that Ireland's elected representatives like Imelda Munster, Brendan Griffin and Alan Dillon have been able to highlight their own abilities as interrogators and defenders of the public interest.
For the last 90-something years, it's been RTÉ holding Ireland's TDs to account. The tables have been turned these past few weeks and a number of TDs have really impressed in trying to extract answers from the RTE executive board and most recently, Tubridy and Kelly, amid all the obfuscating statements and counter-statements.
(A less than generous reading of the controversy is that TDs are digging into this controversy as it's a welcome distraction from the other things ailing the country)
Alan Dillon: half forward turned inquisitor
During today's Public Accounts Committee session with Tubridy and Kelly, Dillon was arguably the most successful of all the TDs in his questioning of Kelly.
The Ballintubber man won two All-Stars for Mayo in the half-forward and captained the county in the 2011 season. As a footballer, he embodied all of those honest and workmanlike virtues that defined that Mayo team of the last decade. Dillon has a background in pharmaceutical science, and he stood for election for Fine Gael in the 2020 general election and won Enda Kenny's seat, after the former taoiseach retired from politics.
Unlike fellow GAA man and FG colleague Peter Fitzpatrick, Dillon is succinct and quietly savage in how he yields his questions.
He was at his best in this exchange with Kelly, cutting through the agent's waffle and getting him to put the entirety of the blame for this scandal on the national broadcaster, which you can see here around the 1hr58 minute, Dillon had some intriguing questions for Kelly and Tubridy
It was the matter of the payments to Tubridy via Kelly's company labeled as consultancy fees handled by an account in the UK that Dillon wanted answers on. Former RTÉ CFO Richard Collins said the taxpayer may have been defrauded by these payments.
Kelly contended that was merely following a process set out by RTÉ. Dillon wanted to know if Kelly was 'colluding' with RTÉ.
Dillon: Did you collude with RTÉ in a falsehood of concealment of those invoices by labelling them as consultancy fees? That's a straightforward question, Mr Kelly.
Kelly: I'm sorry. Could you just ...
Dillon: You said you were following instruction.
Kelly: Yes...
Dillon: So, therefore did you collude with RTÉ in a falsehood of concealment by describing them invoices for consultancy fees?
Kelly: We had no benefit in seeking to suppress knowledge of any payments.
Dillon: This was fraudulent accounting practices.
Kelly: And we certainly didn't do any fraudulent accountancy.
Dillon: But you followed instruction. Alarm bells were never raised amongst you representing your client in relation to these invoices?
Kelly: As I said, we're a small company of eight people. They have accounts, they have auditors, they have lawyers. Huge...And we're just following under instruction and I had no reason not to believe them.
Dillon: The former CFO described these as defrauding the taxpayer. Do you agree with that asseessment?
Kelly: I didn't even hear that he said that.
Dillon then asked a fair question: does it not take two to tango?
Dillon was back asking the questions in the afternoon session at the media committee, and though his questioning was less effective, he didn't manage to get an intriguing answer out of Tubridy regarding his current contract.
'I could be out of a job by Friday'
Ryan Tubridy has told the Oireachtas Media Committee that he is still being paid by RTÉ as a radio presenter, but said he could be 'out of a job' by the end of the week | Follow live updates: https://t.co/w5UAWWKJ4o pic.twitter.com/fR2Jbw2zFH— RTÉ News (@rtenews) July 11, 2023
Various people with GAA interest watching at home praised Dillon for his performance.
At last. One TD shows how to question the witnesses. A series of short, sharp questions from Alan Dillon. No speechifying, just rigorous, on-point questions. #Oireachtascommittee
— Tommy Conlon (@TConlonthecouch) July 11, 2023
Alan Dillon in line for man of the match
— Cahair O'Kane (@CahairOKane1) July 11, 2023
Alan Dillon's brief and succinct line of questioning at the PAC is excellent. #RTEgate
— Dermot Keyes (@DermotKeyes) July 11, 2023
SEE ALSO: The Best Memes From The Ryan Tubridy Dáil Hearing
