RTÉ board to sit before Oireachtas Media Committee

The Oireachtas is set to request RTÉ Director-General Kevin Bakhurst and the RTÉ board to sit before the Media Committee on 13 September.

Minister Catherine Martin will also be asked to appear as soon as she is available.

The Oireachtas will also RTÉ to submit any outstanding documentation requested last month by Friday, September 8th.

The Media Committee met on Tuesday, discussing the latest Grant Thornton report into how the national broadcaster managed former Late-Late Host Ryan Tubridy’s pay between 2017 and 2019.

The report said it was “very plausible” that sums paid by RTÉ to Tubridy were underdeclared by €120,000 from 2017-2019 to keep payments under €500,000.

 

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The chairperson of the broadcaster’s board, Siún Ní Raghallaigh, said the report highlighted a “siloed management culture” and “poor internal communication and weak processes” at RTÉ.

Mr Bakhurst recently concluded talks with Tubridy discussing a potential return to the broadcaster.

The Director General said he feels Tubridy hadn’t “owned his mistakes.”

Questions around RTÉ’s financial practices dominated Dáil and committee debates at the end of the last term.

It had been discovered that the broadcaster spent €4,956 on 200 pairs of flip flops, and that sports presenter Marty Morrissey had secured a car on loan for five years.

The controversy is said to have contributed to a drop in TV license payments this summer.

Media Committee chair Niamh Smyth said she was “keen” to hear from the deputy chairman of the board Ian Kehoe, adding that there were “strong calls” from committee members to hear from Minister Catherine Martin on decreasing TV licence revenues.