Amateur hour began with Toy Show The Musical, progressed through the appointment of the director general and now the scramble to find a Late Late host
, strategic adviser to the director general, in January. The bright idea? Staging the musical earlier in the year. Right. Because everyone wants to see a show deeply tied to Christmas out of season. It is estimated RTÉ flittered away about €2 million on this project, although the broadcaster will not disclose the actual figure. This is a scandal, and there has been no accountability for it.
Next up, we had the botched appointment of the new director general, a saga characterised by leaks from RTÉ's board to the media where there were clearly individuals with serious grievances about the process. How can you mess up appointing a new boss this badly? What on earth was going on? Why is RTÉ not producing a succession of hit podcasts that get the nation talking? How can small independent teams and individuals produce successful podcasts leaving a broadcaster with huge resources in their wake?, which, at the time of writing, is still to be decided.
Then, there’s this year’s Eurovision flop. Eight out of our nine last entries have failed to qualify. At what point will this unacceptable failure be addressed? RTÉ's process is not fit for purpose and needs to be completely reconfigured. It is underfunded and out of date, and the contest’s Irish fans deserve better.
I’m not aiming for cheap shots at one of the nation’s favourite punching bags here. We are experiencing a cultural boom in Ireland right now across music, literature, cinema, comedy, podcasting, and Irish television writers making international hits.
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