The RTÉ controversy continued to dominate the political and wider news agenda on Wednesday, with executives and board members subjected to a marathon hour session with the media committee.
It was an exhausting, sprawling afternoon sprinkled with new revelations, which did little to repair relations with the government or the wider Oireachtas - and won’t lift the pressure on the broadcaster. What did we learn?
Government unsatisfied
Firstly, the government remains unsatisfied with RTÉ. The station’s statement on Tuesday went down very poorly, and was called out by the Taoiseach as not credible on Wednesday morning, before the committee started. Minister for Media Catherine Martin bracketed their appearance with a statement making it clear that the appearance “has not calmed considerable disquiet about lack of accountability”, saying she wants a report into payments to be “accelerated”.
Silos
The broadcaster came under pressure over the siloed nature of the organisation, with both the CFO and the commercial director subject to extended questioning over the extent to which they relied on instructions or “comfort” from former Director General Dee Forbes over the transactions. Chair Siún Ní Rahallaigh appeared to accept the criticisms, not challenging a contention that the executive board was dysfunctional and indicating she felt the executives were basically too deferential to the DG.
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Unsatisfactory explanations
We learned more about the exact sequence of events leading up to the fiasco emerging: specifically, that the auditors flagged concerns to the Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins in early March, found explanations from the DG unsatisfactory, and that it was elevated to the board then on St Patrick’s Day, leading to the independent investigation. This shows there was awareness of unease about the payments within RTÉ before the board were informed.
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Resignation sought
We also discovered that earlier this month, RTE chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh sought Dee Forbes’ resignation (but didn’t tell the government this when she met with Catherine Martin last week), which wasn’t forthcoming - members were furious that it was accepted when she ultimately did resign as it lessened their chances of getting her in front of them.
Noel Kelly and top talent
There was back and forth over the role of super-agent Noel Kelly and his stable of RTÉ stars, as well as the wages paid to so-called “top talent” (including confusion over how many RTÉ clients he has for a while - before everyone agreed it was more than 10), with Ní Raghallaigh saying RTÉ is sometimes “bidding against itself”. Reform of this approach would now seem inevitable.
Tubridy’s future (and future committee visits)
There was more information about Ryan Tubridy’s future - if not clarity - with confirmation that his Radio and TV combined contract came to an end at the end of May (although sources close to him dispute this), and negotiations for a radio-only contract have been paused. He remains off air for the foreseeable, but it seems he will be on our screens again with appearance at the committee by Kelly and Tubridy in the offing after chair Niamh Smyth signalled her support for such a move. It also looks like we will get more details on Patrick Kielty’s fee for becoming the new Late Late Show host, after he both he and RTÉ indicated they’d be open to this.
Doubling down
The RTÉ executives doubled down on Dee Forbes’ role, putting particular emphasis on a verbal commitment by her to underwrite the commercial arrangement between Tubridy and Renault, which ultimately led to RTÉ paying out €150,000 to the star. There was no clarity on why the fees were labeled “consultancy fees” rather than reflecting their true nature with Geraldine O’Leary, the director of commercial, saying she couldn’t remember how it came about. Collins later said the nature of the invoice was “concealed”.
2017-2019 payments
There was more information, but not full clarity, on the €120,000 which RTÉ says was due to Tubridy across 2017-2019. Chief Financial Officer Richard Collins said there was a payment of that size due at the end of Tubridy’s contract (at the end of 2020) which wasn’t paid. But for an “unexplained reason” he was credited this amount, which he said was approved by his predecessor and the Director General. The whole mess remains under investigation, with clarity nowhere to be seen.
Similar deals and cars
The RTÉ group said they weren’t aware of any similar deals within our without the top 10 earners - but there was an acceptance later that some on-air people receive benefits like cars in exchange for being ambassadors, albeit not routed through RTÉ.
