IT WAS ANOTHER rough day for RTÉ’s top executives, who appeared before the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee the day after they went before the Media Committee.
A week after it emerged that RTÉ did not disclose that it paid presenter Ryan Tubridy around €345,000 above his salary over six years, it’s clear that the crisis isn’t going to subside for the broadcaster anytime soon.
Here’s what we learned from today’s committee meeting – and what questions still remain.
Incoming DG Kevin Bakhurst will carry out a full ‘reconstitution’ of the RTÉ executive
The committee heard that RTÉ’s incoming director general intends to carry out a complete reconstitution of the broadcaster’s executive board.
Kevin Bakhurst is to take over the role on 10 July.
Interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch told the committee that he has spoken to Bakhurst, whose first task as director general will be a full shakeup of the executive board of RTÉ.
In his opening statement before the committee, Lynch said: “The application of governance procedures at an executive board level allowed for the partial and incomplete sharing of information”.
As a result, he said, “individual members of the executive either did not have access to information or had information withheld from them.
“It is true that the executive board failed in its collective responsibility to act as a collective and failed to ensure good governance in this matter.”
Board intends to publish salaries of top 100 earners
The chair of RTÉ’s board said that it intends to publish a list of the national broadcaster’s top 100 earners.
Siún Ní Raghallaigh said that the current review of the top earners will include the executive board and that consideration will be given to publishing their salaries.
“In terms of publishing those, it’s certainly something that we are considering should be done and it was discussed yesterday at the joint Oireachtas Committee in relation to that,” she said.
Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor said that “to consider is not enough”.
€270,000 spent via barter account on rugby and soccer entertainment
RTÉ spent €138,000 on IRFU season tickets and €111,000 on travel and accommodation for the Rugby World Cup via a “barter account”, the committee heard.
The broadcaster’s chief financial officer Richard Collins said the money was spent to bring “clients” to the 2019 rugby world cup in Japan, but could not say who these clients were.
The payments were made through a barter account, a type of account used to record the exchange of goods or services for other goods or services.
Asked by the representatives what else the barter account was used for, head of commercial Geraldine O’Leary said the account was used to pay for clients to go to the Rugby World Cup. She said she could not name those clients without their permission.
The committee also heard that €138,000 was spent on 1o-year IRFU season tickets, while €26,000 related to the 2019 Champions League final.
Chair of the RTÉ board Siún Ní Raghallaigh said the expenditure was “outrageous” and that it should go through the procurement system.
Kielty to earn €250,000 per season
Tubridy’s successor on The Late Late Show Patrick Kielty has revealed that he will receive a salary of €250,000 per season for three years.
He has signed a deal for three seasons of 30 shows each.
The deal also includes a one-off payment of €20,000 for pre-production and rehearsals.
Kielty, who lives in London with his family, intends to travel to Dublin and back weekly, but said today he has waived travel and accommodation expenses.
The committee was told by Lynch that the waived expenses of €50,000 were included in the original draft of his contract.
Future use of agents and “them-and-us” culture
The future of how RTÉ deals with star presenters was placed under sharp scrutiny with Ní Raghallaigh declaring that the term “talent”, should be “consigned to the dustbin”.
She said: “Words matter and the term, as it is currently used, reinforces a ‘them and us’ culture in RTÉ. It implies some have greater worth than others.
“The first step in cultural change is to consign this term to the dustbin.
“I wish to restate the fact that over 1,800 people work for RTÉ and I apologise to each and every one of them for the distress they are experiencing.”
Ní Raghallaigh also confirmed that RTÉ is examining whether it should continue to liaise and negotiate with presenters via talent agencies.
“This is what we are looking at in relation to whether we continue with agents,” she said.
Labour leader Alan Kelly has asked that RTÉ provide a full list of all talent agents that have done contracts with RTÉ, including whether any talent agents have any shares or ownership of any shows contracted by RTÉ, by next Thursday.
There have been several calls for Tubridy himself and his agent, NK Management, to go before an Oireachtas committee.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar joined those calls today, saying: “RTÉ executives and board members have come before an Oireachtas committee to answer questions but there are other people who could shine light on this and they include Ryan Tubridy, they include his agents, they include Dee Forbes.
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