THE OIREACTHAS MEDIA committee has heard that a staff member in RTÉ yesterday returned a car which had been “loaned” to them by the company for the past five years.

Interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch told politicians that the provision of the car was “not approved” by management and the car was returned yesterday.

This individual was also in receipt of a company car allowance, Lynch told the committee.

However, Lynch told members that “it’s possible” similar arrangements have existed for other staff, after he was questioned whether there’s “more than one secret car deal”.

Senior officials in RTÉ were before an Oireachtas committee for second week running as the fallout from the broadcaster’s secret payments to Ryan Tubridy continues.

“I’m aware of one instance, where somebody had a loan of a car, my understanding is that car has been returned and that individual is a staff member of RTÉ,” he told Fianna Fáil’s Timmy Dooley.

The senator returned to the topic minutes later to quiz Lynch on when the car had been returned to RTÉ, and was told this had only taken place “yesterday”. 

This was the moment Senator Timmy Dooley pulled a Columbo to ask when a car on loan for five years to an RTÉ employee was returned. pic.twitter.com/yxp6O3ZQ3i

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) July 5, 2023

Lynch declined to identify the staff member or the level of the broadcaster in which they work.

When asked by Fine Gael Senator Micheál Carrigy what role the person who had the car holds within RTÉ, and whether they work as part of the executive, the board, the ‘talent’ or among the wider staff, Lynch said he could not specify as it could identify the person.

Carrigy later asked Lynch whether there may be “more than one secret car deal” in existence for staff at RTÉ.

Lynch replied: “It’s possible.”

Christopher O’Sullivan, Fianna Fáil TD for Cork South-West, questioned whether Lynch knew what brand the car was that was returned yesterday.

However, the interim deputy director general did to Dooley that he would seek clarification on whether “someone at RTÉ could be in receipt of a car allowance without even holding a driver’s licence”.

The committee meeting came as more information came to light about the national broadcaster’s finances.

It emerged that the Toy Show musical made a loss of over €2.2 million after selling just 11,044 tickets while the RTÉ barter account spent €5,000 on flip flops and €4,200 to private members’ club in London.