Tag Archives: RTE

From top: NUJ members at RTE last week; Ryan Tubridy (top) and from left, Joe Duffy , Ray D’Arcy and Marian Finucane

This afternoon.

Martin Wall, in The Irish Times, reports:

Journalists at RTÉ want salaries for top presenters and other senior figures at the broadcaster to be capped at the maximum level of €208,000 paid to the most senior civil servants in the country.

Journalists at the broadcaster said the proposal by management to cut the pay of top-level contract presenters by 15 per cent “does not go far enough”.

The RTÉ sub-branch of the overall Dublin broadcasting branch of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) passed a motion at a meeting on Thursday calling on RTÉ management to move immediately to reduce payments to top presenters.

Meanwhile…

NUJ Dublin Broadcasting tweetz:

NUJ members working in RTÉ have called on the broadcaster to stop paying what we believe are “indefensible” high fees & salaries to a small few presenters & managers.

We understand & share public concern about exorbitant salaries.

We note that the Dutch have pegged all top state & semi state salaries – including national broadcaster – to that of their Prime Minister’s €187,000. This was in response to public outcry at top salary levels. We approve!

RTÉ journalists want €208,000 cap on pay of top presenters and management (RTÉ)

Previously: It Was A Very Good Year

Rollingnews

From top: Katie Hannon;; Fine Gael’s Verona Murphy

Last night.

On RTÉ Radio One’s Late Debate with Katie Hannon.

The programme was scheduled to hold a debate with all the Wexford by-election candidates – Fine Gael’s Verona Murphy, Fianna Fáil’s Malcolm Byrne, Green Party’s Karen Dubsky, Labour’s George Lawlor and Aontu’s Jim Codd – ahead of the by-election on November 29.

However, Ms Murphy, who is also the President of the Irish Road Hauliers association and was recently appointed a Diversity Ambassador by the EU Transport Commissioner Violeta Bulc last month, pulled out last night.

It followed controversial comments made by Ms Murphy including the suggestion that asylum seeker children as young as three need to be “deprogrammed” as they may have been manipulated by ISIS.

Last night, Ms Hannon said:

“Verona Murphy had been confirmed as a guest on our studio panel here tonight, since last Thursday.

“As of this morning, she was still coming on this programme. Her press handler was in contact with our production team – all was in place.

“But, at two minutes to seven o’clock this evening, we received a call to say that Verona Murphy would, in fact, not be appearing.

“And, following that, we got a short statement form Verona:

[reads out statement]

‘Given the controversy of recent days and my subsequent apology, I’ve decided not to take part in tonight’s Late Debate. My focus for the coming days will be listening to and engaging with the issues that concern all living in Wexford.’

[finishes statement]

“Now we did attempt to get some clarity on what this might mean for her candidacy.

“We understand that there was a meeting at Fine Gael headquarters this evening which was attended by Verona Murphy.

“We don’t know what was discussed at that meeting but the official line from Fine Gael tonight is that she is still their candidate.

“So there you have it. It is, of course, a disappointing development. If Verona Murphy had joined us agreed, I would have liked to have asked her about those controversial quotes she gave to David Looby.

“I would have liked to have asked her whose idea it was to visit a direct provision centre in Waterford yesterday which she said later gave her a profound understanding of the issues around migration.

“I would have liked to have asked her if after that meeting, she still believes, as she told David Looby, that we need to take in the possibility that Isis have already manipulated children as young as three or four.

“I would also have liked to have asked Verona Murphy if she stands by her comments in that interview, that addiction and bad personal choices lead people to become homeless.

“And I would have liked to have asked her to expand on her view that drink-driving laws have decimated rural Ireland.

“But, unfortunately, Verona Murphy has pulled out of tonight’s debate, so we won’t be getting her response to those or any of the other issues important to the voters of Wexford tonight.”

Meanwhile…

 

Earlier yesterday in the Dáil, during Leaders’ Questions…

Solidarity/People Before Profit TD Bríd Smith called on Fine Gael to deselect Ms Murphy for the by-election.

Ms Smith said:

“Fine Gael’s candidate in the by-election, Verona Murphy, has doubled down on the hateful rhetoric we have heard from her in the media.

“Today in the Wexford People, she is quoted as claiming that addiction and homelessness are the result of bad choices. Not only does she blame the poor for poverty, but she also blames migrants for every other crisis that exists.

“She blames migrants for everything and stated ISIS is infiltrating this country in large numbers, without knowing that the lowest number of migrants and refugees who come to this country come from the Middle East.

“Her statements are absolutely incendiary and are not just made to get attention.

“She is playing the racist card, which has a double impact.

“It deflects from the things I have mentioned, namely, the crises in health, homelessness and mental health services for children, which will go under the radar because the Fine Gael candidate is playing the race card.

“…The Taoiseach described the candidate as an outspoken, independent woman who does not toe the party line. How high does the Taoiseach’s bar go?

“When will he address this issue and deprogramme and deselect this candidate? If he does not do so, the increased use of the race card will be on his shoulders, as the leader of this country.”

During his response, Mr Varadkar said:

“I read the article in the Wexford People and I do not think the Deputy characterised Ms Murphy’s comments on homelessness exactly as they were described.

“In fact, in the article she described her experience of being homeless. I do not know how many people in the House have had that experience, but she has.

“She described how she left home very early, became homeless, fell out with her family and slept on a couch for a period of time before emigrating to the UK.

“She went on to describe how, later in life, she did her leaving certificate, studied at night to do a law degree and built her business. That is the story she told and I do not think that came across in the way the Deputy described it.

“However, when it comes to what Ms Murphy said about migrants, as I said before, and I mean this, what she said was very wrong. Her comments were ill advised, misinformed and absolutely wrong, and do not reflect the position of my party. It is right that she has retracted those comments and apologised for them.”

Ms Smith replied: “I asked a question which the Taoiseach did not answer, namely, how high his bar is when it comes to his candidate playing the race card.

“…I again ask the Taoiseach how high his bar is when it comes to his candidates using racist language. Would he not immediately say that this is not on and that the candidate has been deselected?

“Furthermore, Ms Murphy needs to be deprogrammed, which will take longer than the two weeks which will elapse before the by-election takes place. What Ms Murphy said is utterly shameful…”

“Now she is spouting lies which will scapegoat minorities. Should that escalate, as leader of the country, it will be on the shoulders of the Taoiseach. I ask him to please answer my question. How high is his bar against racism in his party?

Mr Varadkar respond: “I thank the Deputy. I probably know a little bit more about experiencing racism than perhaps Deputy Smith does…”

Transcript via Oireachtas.ie

Listen back in full here

Today.

In the Dáil.

Ireland’s first Youth Assembly on climate change is taking place involving 157 delegates, ranging in age from 10 to 17, from across Ireland.

Watch live here

Youth Assembly on climate change takes place in Dáil (RTÉ)

UPDATE:

Meanwhile, on Today with Seán O’Rourke, presented by Miriam O’Callaghan…

A boy called Paddy, aged 10, who’s taking part in the assembly and who will be talking about the use of single-use plastic bottles, told Miriam:

“Well, it’s kind of, it’s like, you see this on TV. I’ve watched some of the Oireachtas TV before. And you think, like, you’re in there and it’s like a basin of politics squashed up and made into a stew.

“The chairs are all really, like, comfy and, really old, parliament-ish.

“I feel extremely excited. One because it’s the Dáil and two, because this is a chance to make a change in our civilisation.

“And we have to do it, unless you want to move to another planet. I quite like this planet.”

Last night.

Fine Gael Senator Kieran O’Donnell, from Limerick, announced that he had written to the Oireachtas communications committee and asked it to invite RTÉ Board chair Moya Doherty and RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes to appear before the committee and answer questions about the future of Lyric FM.

It follows the Limerick Leader exclusively reporting yesterday that, in late September, the University of Limerick president Dr Des Fitzgerald wrote to Ms Forbes offering to “help sustain” Lyric FM by accommodating the station on the university’s campus.

EXCLUSIVE: University of Limerick offered to accommodate RTE Lyric FM on-campus (Fintan Walsh, Limerick Leader)

Yesterday: Moya’s Merry Dance

Rollingnews

From top: Chair of the RTÉ Board Moya Doherty (right) and RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes; Marian Finucance

On Saturday.

Chairwoman of the RTÉ Board Moya Doherty was interviewed by Marian Finucane in regards to the financial situation facing the State broadcaster.

Ms Doherty spoke about “transformation”, “strategy” and “being nimble”.

She also raised the water charges protests.

During the interview Ms Finucane informed Ms Doherty that she had attempted to watch an item on the RTÉ Player three times on Friday night before giving up – because, after playing a stream of ad, it cut out.

It follows the Director-General of RTÉ Dee Forbes telling Mary Wilson on RTÉ’s Drivetime on Thursday night that the RTÉ Player is going to be a “huge part” of RTÉ’s future and that, in five years’ time, the player will be “more important to a certain generation of people than RTÉ One or RTÉ Two”.

From Ms Doherty’s interview…

Marian Finucane: “I’m joined this morning by Moya Doherty who’s chairwoman of the RTÉ Board. Now you wrote an opinion piece Moya, in the paper [The Irish Times] about the licence fee. And you’re talking about the responsibility of the Government.

“But what about, ultimately, the responsibility of the executive board and the authority.”

Moya Doherty: “Good morning, good afternoon actually, Marian and thank you for inviting me in this morning. I think it’s important to contextualise what has happened in the last week and what has been happening for months and years within public service media globally.

“There is contestant change and it will be in a constant state of reform. It is impossible to predict where public crevice media will exist in five years let alone 10 years. What our job is, as a board, and as an executive is to ensure that the infrastructure is right, the funding is right, the skills are contemporary and flexible to meet the rapid change.”

Finucane: “But with the kindest will in the world, there’s little evidence of that. I mean, obviously, as the authority and the chair, it is your responsibility to support the executive but I’ve, we hear people talking about public service broadcasting, public service broadcasting, where’s our destination?”

Doherty: “Well, I mean, I think Marian nobody has a crystal ball around destination. The cataclysmic change in the industry globally is quite frightening. Right across the media, people are losing jobs. It is painful, it is incredibly difficult but we cannot not change. You stand still and you are history.

“So, just let me clarify firstly the role of the board. It used to be called the authority, it’s now the board.”

Finucane: “Yeah.”

Doherty: “The board is nominated and appointed by Government. It is not the job of the board to do the role of the RTE Executive. It is the job of the board to represent Government, to stand over the Broadcasting Act of 2009, which is a dinosaur piece of legislation at this time, which cripples the organisation…”

Finucane: “In what way?”

Doherty: “In terms of the commitments it puts on to the organisation when the funding isn’t there to meet those commitments. So that indeed needs to be looked at. So I think that, and also our most important person in the room are the people you are speaking to out there. The audience.”

Finucane: “Absolutely. Yeah.”

Doherty: “They ultimately own public service media. They are ultimately the ones who need to know in five years’ time where their solid, truthful sense of news and current affairs will come from. That is the most important thing.”

Finucane: “Well I want to go into a lot of individual detail but let’s stick with the broad brush for the moment. If you say that there is no crystal ball, the truth is that the internet is not new anymore.

“And if you take youngsters – we had a group in on one of our Sunday programmes and I think to a man or a woman, none of their children watch television in the way, in the old-fashioned way that people sat down to watch The Late Late Show years ago. It just doesn’t happen. And they choose different ways to find their media.

Continue reading →

Top from left: Mike Murphy with Ryan Turbridy (back) Pat Kenny, Moya Doherty, John McColgan and Joe Duffy on a special live edition of The Late Late Show broadcast in tribute to Gay Byrne last Tuesday night on RTÉ One; Vanessa Foran

This might surprise you, but I am opening this RTÉ special with something I wrote about INM from back when;

The most important asset I have as someone who works in professional practice is my independence which includes the perception of that independence.

As a director you are responsible for the welfare of the company, followed by the shareholders, and you must make decisions in the best interests of the company, at all times, and you must never allow that be questioned or mistrusted.

Over the last day you have being caught up into a spin cycle about Dee Forbes and RTÉ operations, cuts, sell offs, closures and NUJ crying games.

Yet all I see is a cloud of silt rising from the boots of shop floor employees as it poises a murky veil around the failure of its board.

You may think that it’s current board weren’t around when ridiculous salaries were being signed off, and their mandate for news and current affairs programming got riddled with propaganda, and you might be inclined to rebut me with it’s not their fault.

Yet you would be wrong, the board and every single one of its directors assume the responsibility of Stewardship and Governance when they accept the baton in a Going Concern entity.

Stewardship and Governance of both a State Asset and a Responsibility.  RTÉ got the gift of their infrastructure and their licence to operate as they liked for free.  RTÉ are responsible for public service broadcasting, specifically news reporting and current affairs; and its board of directors are responsible for RTÉ.

They have failed.

Over the weekend just past, I attended an event where the PRA and the Central Bank gave presentations about Governance and the roles and responsibilities of both Directors and Board Oversight/ Supervisors.  I accept regulated financial institutions are not the point here, but Governance is, and one very simple but significant point the PRA were keen to establish was about Relatives.

Relatives on a board of directors, or relatives of senior management, or indeed employees at any level within the operations of the organisation, or relatives of material suppliers, contributors and stakeholders on a Board of Directors is bad Governance.

It is harmful Governance and it puts organisations at risk, and way beyond what we should accept as a naturally occurring consequence of our feckless attitude to Conflict of Interest.

The jobs-for-the-boys norm we’ve all adjusted to can be blamed for the damage to this Country and its future, yet in RTÉ we are being charged a licence fee to watch it from our own front rooms.

RTÉ is not a family business.

Stop whimpering over job losses and the end of an era, it is time to accept that its failure, and it happened on our watch, that its failure starts and ends at its Governance level.

I don’t care how sexy it is to talk about Dee Forbes’ salary and car allowance, its board of directors at some point bred a Celtic Tiger culture into the organisation that it hasn’t shifted, it’s like the crash was only something that happened to other people, so they just tipped their hat at it by reporting it as it unfolded for ten years.

Over this week we are been fed reels and reels of archive footage containing Gay Byrne and maybe some of us might have dawdled some thoughts about what RTÉ might have been without him.  Or indeed this Country.  We could still be watching reruns of the Papal Visit while Fr D’Arcy hosts the Late Debate.

So let me say this; those great moments in television and the trigger for change they were to become don’t deserve to be used as cover for the abject and shameless failure of RTÉ.

The failure is both Financial and Operational; and it was all under the jurisdiction of its strategic level decision makers, its board of directors.

They agreed the current Strategy while Dee Forbes is employed to implement it.

Look up and note again what I said about relatives; Renewing RTÉ for the next generation was doomed to fail by page three; RTÉ will be outward looking, creative, respectful, sustainable and accountable, collaborative and transparent.

It’s hard to know if they had their fingers crossed when adopted it into the minutes, or whether they were laughing, or whether they were just too full of themselves for their next appointment to know it never stood a chance.

I commented on their Financial Statements here for Year Ends 2016 2017 and 2018 ; and I think I can get away with saying that everything I flagged here over those three columns is coming home to roost today.

Yet that expensive looking strategy wasn’t just a road map for RTÉ and DG Dee Forbes, it was also a promise to us, the Licence Payer, The Viewer, The Citizen, that they were going to get it right and do right my us.

We’ve all been had. 

And there is no gaudier example than the Late Wake Tribute last Tuesday; the current Chair of the RTÉ board and her husband, right in the centre of proceedings.

I don’t begrudge them a bit of their success so don’t pick on it.  But I do take their very presence on our national screen to lick themselves while Moya Doherty chaired the organisation into what ye are seeing today; and she was paid to do it.

I am particularly irritated by an itch that can’t be scratched; RTÉ served all those it employed and engaged, fattened flattered and flaunted, far better than it served any of us, its strategy or is mandated function.

RTÉ are supposed to answer to its Licence Payers and its viewers, and most of all its Public Broadcasting Mandate.  And it doesn’t.

So when DG Dee Forbes says the future of public service broadcasting is at risk, I find myself insulted. Do not blame the source of over half your income (YE18 56%) the Licence Payer,  for the collapse of the organisation both financially and operationally.  

Look again at that Renewing RTÉ for the the next generation , the most important Strategic Plan in the lifetime of the organisation, that within two years has been replaced by “A Plan.”

So even when it was developed, adopted, and probably got a fancy launch; it never stood a chance.  You really have to ask what sort of projections they were playing around with when the Board developed that Strategic Plan and signed it off.

The weekend ahead is going to be filled with Gay Byrne eulogies and RTÉ crisis management spin; and most of it from people who would either qualify as Relatives or Related Parties.

So from this someone, who is a no-one really, but can promise you independence that you could stir your tea with; here is my RTÉ Reboot Receipe

  • All Board and Board Oversight (if any) should be Voluntary

  • All Board and Board Oversight are banned from any programming, unless it is Board / Governance related reporting

  • All Department Heads have to go, and agree not to seek further opportunity from the organisation

  • Relocate the entire facility in Montrose out of Dublin 4

  • Immediately ban News and Current Affairs staff/ contractors from appearing in any Entertainment Division programming, and vice versa.

  • No outside employment for any staff member engaged in any programming department and or division

  • Future HR Ban on employment of Relatives and Related Parties unless signed off by external Auditors

  • Salary Cap of 145K for senior management

  • Dump everyone on over €100k on the wireless, and cap Names; Tubridy, O’Callaghan etc to €225K

  • Move all sports, both News & Current Affairs, and Special Events onto Network 2 & 2fm; SpórTÉ or something

  • Ban on all purchased content from other Television Networks.

  • No series renewal unless export market identified

  • RTÉ 1 and Radio 1 to be main news and current affairs, and special event telly, ie Debates, Toy Show, Elections; introduce more music.  Ban on employees working both divisions, unless engaged in special event, and signed off by two senior producers and DG.

Can it be done; of course it can.

Vanessa Foran is a principal at Recovery Partners.

Rollingnews

Yesterday: Everything Must Go

From pic 3 : Secretary of the National Union of Journalist Seamus Dooley at RTÉ: this morning Dee Forbes, RTE Director General at The Late Late Show Gay Byrnes special last Tuesday night

This morning.

On RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, secretary of the National Union of Journalists Seamus Dooley spoke to Bryan Dobson about the RTÉ 200 job cuts leak to The Irish Times last night.

Mr Dooley described the manner in which RTÉ’s staff and workforce learned about the cuts via media reports as “shocking”.

This morning, Will Leahy who presents RTÉ GOLD from Limerick told his listeners:

“The service you’re listening to now will cease to exist…Today could be our last day. It could be tomorrow, it could be next week, it could be the 31st of December. All I know is what I read in the papers.”

From this morning’s interview…

Seamus Dooley: “As secretary of the NUJ, I’m not going to criticise any journalist for getting a good story. But the reality is that people are waking up to to, this morning, in Limerick, in digital services, finding out that their livelihood is under threat.

“And what I’m getting from staff on campus this morning is how can we trust these people to deliver a plan if they’re not even capable of delivering a message properly.”

Bryan Dobson: “What about the questions that you have about the plan itself. Because there are a lot of questions left unanswered, are there not?”

Dooley: “There are a huge amount of questions left unanswered and members of RTÉ, well all the trade unions, are caught between two abject failures. The failure of Government upon public service broadcasting and the failure, as admitted by the Director-General [Dee Forbes] herself this morning, the failure of executive management to deliver a plan.

“She has admitted here this morning that it has taken three years and the plan is not delivering. And the hames that has been made of this so far is proof of that. The reorganisation hasn’t worked.

“We were up for the plan. Remember that trade union group in RTÉ were the first workers in the public service to volunteer a pay cut. We have a document, guiding principles, which will, is the framework for all of the changes that can be delivered. Could we deliver it now? RTÉ have failed to implement changes using the existing collective agreements and I’m not going to listen to guff about agreements because they’re there.

“It’s up to management to manage – they haven’t been doing it.”

Dobson: “Key elements of this are that any redundancies will be voluntary so nobody is going to be make it compulsory to lose their job. The pay cuts will apply to the highest earners whether that be presenters or indeed at the executive level and there’s a pay freeze for the rest of staff.”

Dooley: “Well, first of all, we have, we only learned about this document through The Irish Times. Every proposal will be independently evaluated by an independent [inaudible] on our behalf. I’m very reluctant to take any promises at face value. We will absolutely interrogate them. I certainly welcome the statement in relation to voluntary redundancies.”I would say that I’m very worried about grand gestures. The DG herself admitted that the high pay issue, which can be a bit of a distraction really, is, would make an insignificant amount. So grand gestures like selling bits of art, or the board of RTÉ waving fees, they’re superficial.

“What we want and what we’ve been looking for for three years is the delivery of a plan which tells us the future of RTÉ.

“And one other thing I would say to your listeners is we represent what Gay Byrne used to call, the worker bees who keep the factory humming – low paid and who will be very hard hit by some of those…”

Dobson: “How concerned would you be that this plan mightn’t be enough. That if it’s not matched, as Dee Forbes seemed to be arguing earlier by reform of the licence fee, we’ll be back in the same situation in maybe just a couple of years time.”

Dooley: “I think the evidence is that redundancy packages of this type do not work. The proposals which RTÉ have implemented haven’t been enough and what we need is meaningful engagement which actually shows us the vision that RTÉ have in relation to what kind of public service broadcasting we want. So I would have a concern.

“And I would also worry about, I mean the atmosphere here is very poor. The moral is very low because since September, RTÉ have been engaged with what I refer to as ‘industrial relations striptease’ – where we get an odd email and an odd staff announcement, telling us ‘we’ll all be rooned said Hanrahan’ we have to do something’. Then they keep postponing and they postpone and then we read about it in this way.

“There is a big challenge facing us but there is also a challenge facing Government. We want public service broadcasting in Ireland, it must be paid for. It must be planned properly and that involves by both the executive of RTÉ and by Government.”

Dobson: “Right. Seamus Dooley from the NUJ thank you very much for that.”

Earlier on Morning Ireland, Director-General of RTÉ Dee Forbes said:

“It is regrettable but I think what’s also hugely important is that we sustain for the future. What’s most important in this conversation is that we sustain public service broadcasting.

“It’s never been a more important time. It’s never been more important to have that independent voice. So what we’re doing here is, is sort of changing, if you like, course and looking at the direction that it go in.”

EARLIER:

Last night.

Via RTÉ:

The RTÉ Guide is for sale

RTÉ will close its current studio in Limerick in 2020; production of RTÉ lyric fm will move to Cork and Dublin

RTÉ will continue to provide a mid-west news service in Limerick

We will close the Digital Audio Broadcast network, as well as RTÉ’s digital radio stations (RTÉ 2XM, RTÉ Pulse, RTÉ Gold, RTÉjr Radio & RTÉ Radio 1 Extra)

RTÉ Aertel will cease

The RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra will transfer to the National Concert Hall

We will develop a new integrated media centre in Donnybrook, investing in new digital infrastructure

We need to reduce projected costs by €60 million over three years (2020-2023), in addition to the reduction of 23% delivered between 2008 and 2018

We need to reduce the fees paid to our top contracted on-air presenters by15%, in addition to the 30+% cuts as agreed in previous years

We need to reduce staff costs—we will consult with staff and unions on a number of initiatives, to include pay freeze, tiered pay reductions, review of benefits, work practice reforms

The Executive Board will take a 10% reduction in pay; the Board of RTÉ will waive its fees

We need to achieve a staff headcount reduction of c. 200 in 2020

RTÉ to cut jobs, pay and some services to address financial crisis (RTÉ)

Rollingnews

RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes said:

“The challenges in front of us are real. But RTÉ does have a plan, which we are confident can address many of the challenges we face and bring Ireland’s national public broadcaster to stability.

However, Government needs to act to ensure there is a future for public service media in Ireland. I am clear about what role RTÉ should play in Irish life, but I am also clear that we cannot do it unless Government fixes the TV Licence system. We shouldn’t be under any illusions; we are in a fight – a fight to sustain a viable public media in Ireland.”

“We remain in discussions with Government. We are doing all we can to return RTÉ to a stable financial position, but we will not be able to reinvent public media for future generations, nor fulfil our remit, without immediate reform of the TV Licence system.”

FIGHT!

This afternoon.

Further to RTE’s cuts announcement

Deaf community activist Micheál Kelliher writes:

RTÉ…What’s your plans with subtitles for deaf and hard of hearing people?

If you shut down #Aertel (888 for subs) and they are not using TV setboxes, etc, how can you ensure them to have access to subtitles?

Anyone?

Earlier: Everything Must Go

Kevin Lunney

Following the abduction and torture of Quinn Industrial Holdings’ chief operations officer Kevin Lunney last month…

RTÉ reports:

The CEO of Quinn Industrial Holdings has said the latest threats against its directors are “being taken very seriously at the highest level”.

Liam McCaffrey said the PSNI and gardaí are monitoring the homes and place of work of QIH’s directors.

The threat, delivered to the Irish News, was conveyed to Quinn directors by gardaí.

In the letter, which was typed and delivered to the Irish News on Monday, QIH directors were told that it was their final warning.

Threats being taken seriously at highest level – QIH chief Liam McCaffrey (RTÉ)

Related: New threat against QIH directors by gang behind torture of Kevin Lunney (Irish News)

Previously: In Cavan