President Michael D Higgins has described the payments controversy at RTÉ as damaging.
He was speaking to reporters at the Biennial Delegate Conference of the Irish Congress of Trade Unions (ICTU) in Kilkenny.
Asked about RTÉ, President Higgins said that public service broadcasting is crucial but added that it would be unfair for him to comment as he knew nothing about the deals in question.
"Let there be process and, like I have been saying, let there be the fullest accountability," Mr Higgins said.
He highlighted positive developments in public service broadcasting like short films involving TG4.
"The great pity is, if you ask me the question, have we been damaged by this? The answer is yes," the President said.
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Delegates at the ICTU conference unanimously passed an emergency motion on the payments controversy at RTÉ which was tabled by the National Union of Journalists, SIPTU and Connect.
It described the actions of the RTÉ executive board as a betrayal of trade union members and a breach of trust.
The motion called on RTÉ to adhere to the principles of public service broadcasting and to respect the rights of workers.
'Glad of wide discussion'
Mr Higgins was also asked about concerns he expressed about the Government's Consultative Forums on International Security.
Ahead of the forums, he told the Business Post newspaper that Ireland is "playing with fire" during a dangerous period of "drift" in foreign policy.
Today, the President was asked about his views on the forums, now that they have taken place.
"I'm glad that the discussion was wide," Mr Higgins said, praising the contributions of former diplomats.
He added that he was not an organiser of the seminars and heard about it through social media and the newspapers.
"I don't understand how there is any value in narrowing anything to a set of technocratic decisions, which are not explained in context, in which one option is justified over another," he said.
"I think in terms of foreign policy, it will be at its best and strongest when its discourse is most inclusive," he added.
In his address to the ICTU conference, President Higgins said that people tell him he should be minding his own business but added that they will be disappointed.
The conference sees hundreds of trade union representatives from the island of Ireland gathering to discuss a range of topics under the theme of 'Making Work Pay – Unions Transforming Work and Workplaces'.
Over the course of the three-day conference, there will be calls for pay increases in both the public and private sector to help ease cost-of-living pressures.
"Rising rents, mortgage uncertainty and the cost of food and home heating have left many workers struggling," said ICTU General Secretary Owen Reidy.
In his address to the conference, ICTU President Kevin Callinan said that the trade union movement will not tolerate declining incomes for workers when resources are available to avoid this.
"At a time of very healthy profits for many companies and buoyant public finances, the Government is presiding over a significant fall in living standards due to rampant inflation in energy and food costs," Mr Callinan said.
