Incoming RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst has said his job is to "restore trust" in the organisation.
He described a meeting with Minister for Media Catherine Martin as "frank and very useful".
Mr Bakhurst said he would outline his plans for RTÉ when he formally takes charge on Monday.
Emerging from the meeting with the minister, he told reporters: "My job is to restore trust, clearly that's been severely damaged.
"Again, I apologise for that. But that's my job, to restore trust in this organisation.
"That's what I'll try to do. And I'll be setting out a lot more detail on Monday about how we intend to do that."
He has previously made known that his first task would be to "reconstitute" the executive board amid the controversy engulfing the national broadcaster.
Mr Bakhurst said he knows staff morale is on the floor and that he wants to regain the trust of the licence fee holders.
He was accompanied to the meeting with Ms Martin at the Department of Tourism and Media by RTÉ Board Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh and Interim Deputy Director General Adrian Lynch.
Asked if he had confidence in RTÉ's Executive Board, Mr Bakhurst said he would be making a more detailed statement on Monday, adding that there were individuals involved and he needed to speak to them first.
"There are individuals involved here, I need to talk to them and also want to talk to staff before I come out and say something publicly.
"For me, restoring the trust of the audience and of staff and of politicians in RTÉ is absolutely key to what we're trying to do here," he said.
The RTÉ Executive, including Mr Bakhurst, and Board are due before the Public Accounts Committee on Thursday.
Politicians have also re-issued invites to Former director general Noel Curran and Head of Content Jim Jennings, who have not been able to attend.
Other invitees include former Chief Financial Officer Breda O'Keeffe, Adrian Lynch and Director of Strategy Rory Coveney.
In a statement, Ms Martin said she had made clear at the meeting that she was not satisfied with the way in which information has been provided to the RTÉ Board, to the public and to the Oireachtas.
She described the meeting as constructive "with a full and frank exchange of views".
The minister said she expressed her concerns about staff morale at RTÉ and the damage done to the relationship between RTÉ and the Oireachtas
She said she told Mr Bakhurst that it is critical that he works "from day one" to "change the tone and culture between the executive and the board and staff".
Ms Martin said Mr Bakhurst had "committed to the full cooperation with the independent, root and branch examination and the forensic accountant that will be appointed next week".
Taoiseach cautions against 'collective punishment'
When questioned at an energy press conference this afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said he would continue to pay his TV licence fee and cautioned against a "collective punishment" of staff by not paying the licence.
Mr Varadkar said that people should pay their TV licence fee, not just because it is the law but because it funds news, sport, Irish language programming, drama, documentaries and so much more than the subject of current controversies.
Asked whether the Government would bail out RTÉ if the current revelations precipitate a financial crisis, Mr Varadkar said there are no indications of such a problem but if it did arise, the Government would have to deal with it.
"I'm not going to promise to solve a problem that has not yet arisen or promise a complete bailout," Mr Varadkar said.
On reforming the licence fee, he said that review is paused for the duration of the external investigations into RTÉ.
He said that would allow the new Director General to restructure the organisation and "reshuffle the senior team".
But he added that he believed the issue of funding should be tackled by the current Government.
Trust 'severely diminished'
Mr Bakhurst said trust in RTÉ had been "severely diminished".
"It's been a highly damaging two weeks for RTÉ and it's been painful to watch," he said. "But I'm looking forward to starting the job and trying to repair that."
Mr Bakhurst also said he was concerned about the finances of RTÉ.
The meeting was to discuss the non-disclosed payments controversy at the broadcaster.
When asked about barter accounts, Mr Bakhurst said he knew there was a barter account for trading airtime and that was as far as he knew about it.
Mr Bakhurst said he was facing a "huge challenge".
"It wasn't quite the challenge that I thought I was taking on when I took on this job but it's a challenge that I'll do my absolute best to deliver it with the right team around me," he said.
Asked what his message was to licence-fee payers who were contemplating not paying as a result of the scandal, Mr Bakhurst urged them to look at the actions and "what we're trying to do to restore trust".
He also praised how RTÉ News and Current Affairs had covered the story about its own organisation.
Commenting on staff sentiment at RTÉ, he said: "I fully recognise the morale is on the floor and my priority next week is to get around the organisation, my top priority is to go around the organisation and talk to staff and hear their concerns.
"Adrian [Lynch] and I have already been talking about trying to meet the unions possibly tomorrow, if they're available. So we want to start this. I don't start 'til Monday, this is the most work I've done for no payment so far in my life in the last few weeks. But I'm happy to do it."
Asked when his planned reconstitution of the executive board would commence, he replied: "It will start on Monday."
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Green Party leader Eamon Ryan said he is glad to hear there will be a reconstitution of RTÉ's Executive Board.
Speaking on RTÉ's News at One, the Minister for Communications said the core issue is that when an institution whose key job is to deliver transparency, cannot provide transparency on its own operations, then "that is a fundamental problem".
Regarding future funding of RTÉ, Mr Ryan said there was a process and it was taking time with "frustration within RTÉ" that there had not been a resolution around it.
The "revelations of the last two weeks have completely disrupted the process," he said.
He echoed Mr Bakhurst's comments that confidence in RTÉ has been damaged. "No one would deny that," he added.
Additional reporting: Sandra Hurley and PA
