On RTÉ Radio this month, Minister for Communications Patrick O’Donovan said: “I’m trying to get people to have faith in the public service broadcaster. We’re trying to get people to go back into their post office and pay their licence fee. And, invariably, people are going to ask, ‘For what?’”

Many people who pay their licence fee do indeed ask themselves what they are paying for. They may be annoyed about a particular programme, fed up with repeats, outraged at bloated presenter salaries or just partaking in what is something of a national sport: venting about the national broadcaster.

But it is not O’Donovan’s job to “get people to have faith” in RTÉ. That is RTÉ’s job, a challenge that also makes it a convenient whipping boy.

As a contributor to some RTÉ programmes, I do not pretend to be piously objective. Like us all, I have my own preferences and prejudices. It is striking, however, in trawling through historic writings how some critics have relished their venom.

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