Yates refuses to explain decision not to disclose media training to co-host

Ivan Yates has refused to elaborate on why he “deliberately” did not tell his podcast co-host about media training a presidential candidate, as he told a committee he had not “contributed to public distrust” in the media.

Mr Yates, a former Fine Gael minister and ex-broadcaster, has been criticised for not declaring that he had provided around four hours of media training to the Fianna Fail candidate Jim Gavin during the presidential election.

Path To Power podcaster Matt Cooper was critical of his co-host for not declaring the coaching while commenting on the election and the show is now moving ahead with guest contributors instead.

Mr Yates told the Oireachtas media committee on Wednesday that he “deliberately” did not tell Mr Cooper about the coaching.

He said he deliberately did not tell his co-host because he did not want to put him in a “conflicted” and “very invidious” position.

Asked by the PA news agency after the committee if this was an acknowledgement a conflict of interest would put Mr Cooper in a difficult position, Mr Yates said: “No.”

Pressed to explain what he meant by an “invidious position”, he said: “I’m really not going to get into it.

“I’ve come before the committee, I’ve gone into a 25-minute interview – I have nothing further to say on anything right now.”

Fianna Fail said the media training for Mr Gavin took place from September 23 to 29 and focused on preparing for interviews on two programmes.

Newstalk said a review is under way after Mr Yates presented a programme on its airwaves on three dates during the presidential election campaign and did not inform it of “any conflict of interest”.

Mr Gavin ultimately withdrew from contention following poor opinion poll results and revelations about thousands of euros he owed to a former tenant.

Mr Yates said there was a “hysteria” inside an “absolute media-political bubble” about the media coaching controversy.

He said he was “flabbergasted at the volume of attention” on his media training activities over the last few weeks, which he said was a “small element” of his commercial activities.

Mr Yates, an entrepreneur involved in property development, was also engaged in coaching for Fianna Fail housing ministers.

In a reference to a Fianna Fail fundraiser in the 2000s, Fine Gael Senator Garrett Ahearn said this was like a “modern version of the Galway tent”.

Asked by Mr Ahearn if he could see the conflict in his coaching of housing ministers, Mr Yates said he totally separates his views on policy from his media coaching.

Mr Yates said this was evidenced in his repeated criticism of Fianna Fail.

He said he would work for anybody, adding: “I’m freelance – but not free.”

Mr Yates’s appearance came in the second sitting of the committee on Wednesday, with politicians having earlier heard from the Department of Culture and media regulator Coimisiun na Meain.

Aoife MacEvilly, broadcasting and video-on-demand commissioner with Coimisiun na Meain, said the body was “sufficiently concerned” about the revelations around Mr Yates that it “immediately wrote to the broadcasters in question to understand more about what happened”.

However, Ms MacEvilly said the organisation was not going to comment specifically on that case but added: “We will follow that up. There are a number of steps that we can take pursuant to that.

“Obviously, we’re not pre-judging any of what we might get from the broadcaster, or what our analysis might be, or what our findings are.”

Asked if he had coached Mr Gavin and presented on Newstalk on the same day, Mr Yates said he was not going to comment on any matter that was subject to an investigation by Coimisiun na Meain.

He said the content, guests and tone of those Newstalk shows were decided by the editor and two producers.

“In my view, I was simply under orders, and they control the editorial policy of those programmes, and I can absolutely assure you that they act impartially.”

Pressed on the matter by Fianna Fail senator and former broadcaster Alison Comyn, Mr Yates said he was drawing “a line in the sand” and noted that he was not compelled to be before the committee.

However, he said he was open to co-operating with the regulator and would accept its adjudication.

Mr Yates said it would have been a “guaranteed mood killer” to preface all debates with Mr Cooper with a “disclaimer or a declaration of interests”.

He told the committee a “major attraction” for listeners to the podcast was that he had a different style and approach from Mr Cooper: “I approached issues from a very different perspective, with deep political experience and connections with relationships across the parties with a real-world experience of both the economy and politics.”

Fianna Fail TD Malcolm Byrne told Mr Yates that he was aware that he had a “very good reputation” in media training, but added: “I’d maybe ask in the case of Jim Gavin, we might look for our money back on that one.”

Mr Yates, who stopped for photographers and video news cameras as he arrived at Leinster House for the hearing, told committee members it was a “pity” that he was the “only one” of several people invited to address the hearing who accepted the invitation.

The ex-agriculture minister said he had been doing media training for around four years and had not been engaged in the practice when he was a full-time broadcaster between 2009 and 2020, adding that he had left full-time broadcasting since then.

Mr Yates said his LinkedIn profile showed he was a media trainer and that it had been reported he engaged in this work with Fianna Fail in early 2022.

The former Wexford TD said he has “always acted in good faith”, had “always thought to be legally compliant with all legislation”, and said his commentary has been based on “genuine independent opinions” and not altered by any training role.