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Live BlogHERE WE GO again: RTÉ executives are back in Leinster House for another Oireachtas committee grilling this afternoon.
Almost three years since the broadcaster was first embroiled in scandal over Ryan Tubridy’s pay, new questions are being raised over payments, transparency and governance.
Director General Kevin Bakhurst and deputy director general Adrian Lynch are expected to come under heavy pressure from TDs and senators over RTÉ’s revised highest-paid presenters list, which was updated last week to include Derek Mooney after he had previously been classified as a producer rather than a presenter.
Committee members are also expected to question executives on payments made to Claire Byrne and Ray D’Arcy after they left RTÉ Radio One last year, as well as broader concerns over pay transparency and governance reforms.
We’ll have all the latest updates, key exchanges and reaction from the committee hearing here throughout the afternoon.
Kevin Bakhurst told the committee that RTÉ would continue to “interrogate what we feel needs interrogation” following the latest controversy over presenter payments and classifications.
He said the broadcaster’s revised 2025 top earners list, and the additional detail published around how it was compiled, reflected “new standards in action”.
Bakhurst also acknowledged the damage done to public confidence in the broadcaster in recent years, telling members that RTÉ had “learned the hard way as regards public trust”.
“The gains that we have made in terms of the recovery of that trust are not something that we take for granted,” he added.
In his opening statement, Bakhurst said public service media in Ireland has been “underfunded for decades”, pushing back on any suggestion that the government’s multiannual funding package for RTÉ amounted to a “bailout”.
He described the funding model as “a welcome step in addressing that funding volatility”, while adding that “RTÉ is, in large part, responsible for its own fiscal stability”.
Communications Minister Patrick O’Donovan said after Tuesday’s meeting at the Department of Culture that he wanted information requested from RTÉ in advance of the talks to also be shared with the committee.
Asked today whether there was any further material requested by Mr O’Donovan that had not been provided to members, Bakhurst replied: “Not that I’m aware of.”
Committee chair Alan Kelly has opened the session, criticising RTÉ for only providing the Director General’s opening statement to members around an hour before proceedings began.
Kevin Bakhurst has now begun delivering his opening remarks to the committee.
A reminder – here’s the revised list of RTÉ’s top 10 highest paid presenters for 2025:
Good afternoon and welcome – RTÉ are appearing before the media committee.
It comes after recent pay revelations uncovering that Derek Mooney was not included in the top-10 highest-paid presenters list, even though he was paid enough to feature every year between 2020 and 2025.
Mooney, however, was reclassified as a producer in his contract, and the broadcaster said he had not been considered for inclusion in the list since then.
RTÉ’s Director General Kevin Bakhurst and deputy director Adrian Lynch should face some backlash from the media committee members for this, as well as a number of wider governance issues plaguing the broadcaster.
We’ll have the latest for you here.
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