It was another dramatic week for RTÉ.
There were criticisms of car allowances and a photography tender.
The announcement of a recruitment freeze sparked anger among unions and there was a fresh debate about whether the broadcaster should sell its headquarters amid a worsening financial crisis.
Another appearance by RTÉ bosses before the Oireachtas Media Committee brought another chance for politicians to demand change.
And there will be big changes at RTÉ.
Even before Wednesday's committee hearing got under way, Director General Kevin Bakhurst sent an email to staff announcing a recruitment freeze and a pause in discretionary spending.
Unions were unhappy about how the news was delivered, saying it came like a "bolt from the blue".
They also warned that failure to fill vacancies would have a "detrimental impact" on workers.
RTÉ management is due to meet with union representatives in the coming days.
At Wednesday's committee hearing, there were questions and suggestions about the possibility of RTÉ selling its Donnybrook headquarters.
Located in the heart of leafy Dublin 4, the Montrose campus is prime real estate and a valuable asset.
When asked about the potential sale of the RTÉ site, Mr Bakhurst said that "all options are on the table - full sale, partial sale and doing nothing".
He said he did not believe that "doing nothing" was an option, and added that he has asked for a valuation of the entire site.
He said he hoped to have a figure in a couple of weeks.
The Government, however, sounded a note of caution about putting the RTÉ campus on the market with the Taoiseach saying it wouldn't be insisting on a sale.
"We will not be making demands of that nature, but we want to hear from the DG and the board on what their plans are and what they are planning to do to improve the financial situation of the company," Leo Varadkar said.
He added that any decision to sell land should not be done just for demonstration purposes.
Those sentiments were echoed by Tánaiste Micheál Martin who described some of the suggestions around selling the RTÉ campus as "silly".
"You can say sell the land, but that doesn't create sustainability," Mr Martin said.
"These [land sales] are a once off, it creates once off capital revenue, it doesn't deal with long-term sustainability."
"I've been in Government a long time and, you know, quite often selling land is something you regret later."
Dr Eileen Culloty is an Assistant Professor in the School of Communications at Dublin City University and Deputy Director of the Institute for Media, Democracy and Society.
She agrees that selling RTÉ's headquarters would only deliver a short-term injection of cash to an organisation that needs long-term, sustainable funding.
"I don't see how it helps in the long-term because it would just be a sticking plaster," Dr Culloty said.
"The big issue for any funding model for public service media is that it has to provide financial stability and independence from governments and other interests."
"Currently the licence fee does not do any of those things and so we can talk about cutting things and downsizing but that still doesn't answer the question of what is the model and the vision to have financial stability," she added.
The Oireachtas Media Committee was told that there would be tough choices ahead.
"Hard decisions must be made in order to achieve a fit for purpose public service broadcaster," said Siún Ní Raghallaigh, Chair of the RTÉ Board.
"These decisions may not be popular with stakeholders and policy makers," Ms Ni Raghallaigh said.
Director General Kevin Bakhurst told committee members that in the short-term, RTÉ will have to cut back on spending as it awaits a political decision on its future funding, which could impact broadcasting on things like sport and political party conferences.
Efforts to reduce RTÉ services and output have, in the past, met with stiff political opposition.
In 2019, then director general Dee Forbes announced plans for €60 million of cuts.
Among the proposals was the closure of the Limerick studio and the moving of Lyric FM to Cork and Dublin.
It led to a political backlash and RTÉ backed down.
A planned sale of the RTÉ Guide was abandoned in the face of staff opposition and an attempt to outsource the production of Young People's Programming was heavily criticised.
Dr Eileen Culloty said that politicians will have to play their part in the reforms of RTÉ.
"RTE does have a job to do but so do the politicians because it is their job to guarantee a widespread public media service, this is what every EU country is expected to provide, so they can't just push everything back on RTE and just say cut, cut, cut," Dr Culloty said.
The arrival of autumn is bringing a change in colour to RTÉ's leafy green campus.
Structural change won’t happen in the same natural way but it must happen if RTÉ is to weather the months and years ahead.
Read more:
Bakhurst announces immediate recruitment freeze at RTÉ
Taoiseach: No Govt demand for sale of RTÉ's Dublin site
Far too many allowances in RTÉ, Bakhurst tells committee
Call over long-term RTÉ funding in 'next few months' - Taoiseach
