Taoiseach cannot rule out that some RTE payments were on ‘wrong side of the law’

Get the free Morning Headlines email for news from our reporters across the world Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email Sign up to our free Morning Headlines email SIGN UP I would like to be emailed about offers, events and updates from The Independent. Read our privacy policy Irish premier Leo Varadkar has said he cannot rule out the possibility that some payments made by RTE may have been on the wrong side of the law. “I don’t think it’s unusual that any company or any large body would seek to entertain its clients, that’s part of the way business works,” he said. “The fact that it was so untransparent, even concealed, that payments were made for work that perhaps wasn’t done, that’s much more serious I think and is a matter of real concern.” RTE operates on a dual funding model, with 55% of its income, 200 million euro a year, brought in by way of the licence fee. “So there is an option under the Act for the minister to appoint a designated person and at least earlier in the week it wasn’t planned to do that, but the Minister is still reserving judgment on that and it remains an option but the important thing really is less the mechanism that we use, it’s more the fact that it’s done and that somebody from the outside who understands corporate governance, understands accounting and understands how organisations should be run, and should not be run, is brought in to carry out an assessment, to do a report for government and to put things right.”