An RTÉ executive has told the Flood Tribunal that the company felt under pressure to reduce their charges to Century Radio because of an intervention by the former Minister for Communications, Ray Burke. Chief Financial Officer Gerry O'Brien said that the station was eventually virtually forced to give away services to Century.
RTÉ originally wanted to charge over £1m for the use of its transmission network. The figure was eventually reduced to just a fraction of that after Ray Burke intervened. Gerry O'Brien told the Tribunal that they were virtually forced to give it away. The minister told them their charges were too high and, on some points, his arguments matched what Century had said.
Mr O'Brien said that RTÉ was answerable to the political system and it could not afford to make enemies. He said that the minister held the trump card and, as RTÉ needed the department to make decisions on other major issues, they were not going to go to war on this one. Mr O'Brien said that it was RTÉ policy to accommodate the minister's wishes. He said that they felt under pressure and, at the end of the day, if the minister wanted something done, he would get it done.
