Dobson 'regrets' training health board executives

RTÉ news anchor Mr Bryan Dobson has said he "regretted" his involvement in coaching health board chief executives on how they should deal with media interviews.

"I shouldn't have done it and I regret it. I am sorry I did it," the broadcaster said on RTÉ Radio One's Tonight with Vincent Browne last night.

Mr Dobson rang the show to state his position during a discussion on the revelation that the media company, Promedia, part-owned by broadcaster Pat Kenny, carried out media training for the health board executives.

Under the training programme, the CEOs were advised to release "good" local news stories when two major reports on the restructuring of the health services are published next week.

Mr Dobson, who conducted mock interviews with the executives, said he was paid for the work but "not handsomely". He added he was not involved in devising strategy, but just in conducting interviews.

In an apparently tongue-in-cheek remark, he said he did not know whether he should be "suspended or fired", indicating that as far as he knew there were no procedures in place in RTÉ for staff who did media training.

Describing his involvement in the project as a "mistake", he said: "It's not part of what I do. I have a full time job in RTÉ which I'm happy doing, and I want to continue doing, and I want to continue doing as well as I can, and I want most of all, Vincent, to protect the integrity that I believe is important if people like you or I are to do the job we do."

The training programme, details of which were revealed by the Sunday Business Post, was designed to deal with criticism raised in the two health service reports, both of which are due to go to Cabinet next week before publication.

It is already known that the Prospectus report will recommend the abolition of all health boards and call for their replacement with four regional executive bodies with greater professional and consumer representation.

The Brennan report, which examined value-for-money in services, cites a "management vacuum" at the heart of the health system, and proposes the establishment of a new health service executive.

Mr Dobson said he made a "couple of brief observations" during the coaching programme. "It did not take a whole lot of time, and I suppose it did not involve a whole lot of money as a result of that," he said.