Current Government 'will make a decision on future of licence fee', says Varadkar

“I think the licence fee is a very old-fashioned charge," he said. 

It’s based on a device that many people just don’t have anymore.

“And almost all the money automatically goes to RTÉ, even though there are many other broadcasters and radio stations, local media, that are involved in public service provisions as well.

“We’re very keen to make a decision on the future of the licence fee, and we’ll do it during the period of this Government and this Dáil. I don’t want it to be kicked down the road any longer.”

He said that he is “determined” to reform the way Ireland funds public service broadcasting “to put it on a sustainable footing for the future and to make sure that bodies other than RTÉ can get a fairer share of that pot”. 

Labour leader Ivana Bacik and Fianna Fáil backbenchers have been calling for an end to the license fee, with calls growing more fervent as the public broadcaster became increasingly mired in financial scandals in recent weeks.

'The beginning of some changes'

The Taoiseach has said that this week will be an important one for RTÉ.

The new director general Kevin Bakhurst, who begins in the role on Monday, will make announcements on measures such as restructuring the executive and changes around conflicts of interest, Mr Varadkar said.

“I would not see it as the end of the affair," said the Taoiseach. "But it’s the beginning of some changes that are needed in RTÉ.

“But we shouldn’t get away from the fact that RTÉ is a very important institution. I hope that at the end of this process, you’ll see us with a stronger Raidió Teilifís Éireann, and that has to be the objective here.

“We need public service broadcasting — a small democracy in particular needs public service broadcasting. There’s more to that than RTÉ, but RTÉ is a major part of it.

We’re very keen that the outcome of all of this is that RTÉ survives, it's reformed, and emerges stronger at the end of this."

Mr Varadkar said that the “drip-drip” feed of information from RTÉ throughout the scandal “is not helpful and erodes trust.” 

He said that he is unaware of requests from RTÉ for multimillion-euro bailouts in the last couple of months, but said that if RTÉ was in serious financial difficulty, Government would consider helping — on strict conditions.

“If RTÉ runs into a serious financial situation during the course of the year, well then we’ll have to consider that," he said. "But it’s never been the case that any public body has been bailed out without there being consequences.

If there’s a bailout, it is always conditional. But we’re not at that point yet.” 

He welcomed Ryan Tubridy’s agreement to answer questions for the Oireachtas media committee this week.

“There are always different sides to a story," said Mr Varadkar. "I’m a believer in due process. I don’t like rushing to judgement.

“Bitter experience in politics has taught me that it’s not fair to rush to judgement on an issue like this, particularly where there are individuals involved — their families, their friends, their careers are affected by it. 

"I think it’s a good thing that he’s willing to answer questions, tell his side of the story, and I really would say to people: ‘Let's not rush to judgement, let’s wait until we know all the facts.’ ”