RTE executive denies misleading parliamentarians over commercial barter accounts

A senior RTE executive has denied misleading parliamentarians on the broadcaster’s use of commercial barter account transactions.

Chief financial officer Richard Collins faced robust questions at an Oireachtas committee on Wednesday on how many of the accounts the national broadcaster uses.

RTE has been engulfed in crisis following revelations last month that it under-reported the salary paid to former Late Late Show host Ryan Tubridy and failed to disclose 345,000 euro of additional payments to him between 2017 and 2022, some of which were processed through a UK-based barter account.

Barter accounts are commonplace in the media industry. They allow organisations to exchange advertising airtime that would otherwise go unsold in return for good and services from companies.

RTE’s use of barter spending has come in for intense scrutiny since it emerged that 150,000 euro was paid to Tubridy through one such account, and that the payment was not properly declared.

The Irish broadcaster, which is sustained through public funds and commercial revenues, has also faced criticism for using barter transactions to spend hundreds of thousands of euro entertaining commercial clients, including on a trip to the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

A series of further transactions was revealed on Wednesday, including almost 5,000 euro on 200 pairs of flip flops for a summer party for clients.

The broadcaster acknowledged the existence of further barter accounts in a statement on Tuesday night.

That prompted a renewed wave of political criticism as the disclosure came after Mr Collins told the Public Accounts Committee last week that there was only one such account.

On Wednesday, Mr Collins moved to address the apparent contradiction, explaining that while there were three companies used for barter activity, it was treated financially as one consolidated account within RTE.

Mr Collins was appearing before the Irish parliament’s Media Committee alongside other current and former senior executives and members of the RTE board.

“I didn’t tell any lie,” he said. “There is one barter account. There’s three companies that feed into that.

“From a financial point of view, I look at a consolidated view there.

“All the transactions related to the barter account are captured in what’s presented and are available for audit.

“There’s no extra accounts that have suddenly emerged in the last week. Everything was visible there. It’s just terminology we’re talking about here.”

Mr Collins added: “I wasn’t trying to mislead anyone. The way I look at it is a consolidated view, and there are three companies that feed into it.

“I don’t look at the individual companies, I look at the overall piece and what does it all add up to.

“So I wasn’t trying to mislead or hide anything there.”

Commercial director Geraldine O’Leary later defended the expenditure entertaining clients, highlighting the importance of building strong relationships with advertising partners that spent millions of euros with RTE.

The probe by the committee is one of a series of separate reviews and investigations of RTE triggered by the undisclosed payments scandal.

The interim deputy director general of RTE Adrian Lynch told the committee of the executive team’s “profound regret” that standards of governance within the national broadcaster were “far lower than required” on a number of issues.

“We extend our apology to the public, to our staff, our stakeholders and partners, and to you as public representatives, that our standards of transparency, and professionalism, fell short of what is rightly expected of us,” said Mr Lynch.

The hearing came one day after the Government announced two separate external reviews of RTE and also moved to send in a forensic auditor to examine the broadcaster’s accounts.

Much focus has centred on a 2020 commercial deal involving RTE, Tubridy and Renault. It was used as a means to bolster Tubridy’s pay in exchange for him making personal appearances for the motoring company.

However, RTE’s decision to guarantee the 75,000 euro annual payments to the star has been questioned, given it resulted in the national broadcaster paying out 150,000 euro to him when Renault chose not to extend the arrangement beyond one year.

Breda O’Keeffe, the former chief financial officer, told the committee that when she left her role in March 2020, RTE’s position was that it would not underwrite the deal due to risks involved.

“My recollection is that Mr Tubridy’s agent requested that the commercial agreement be underwritten by RTE and this was refused,” she told the Media Committee.

She added: “I was not aware any guarantee had been issued until I heard about it last week in the media reports.”

Chairwoman of the RTE board Siun Ni Raghallaigh told the committee she was “deeply unhappy at the evident pattern of inconsistency and lack of completeness in the provision of information” by RTE’s current executive team.

“Regrettably, this pattern has persisted, I believe there is a high probability that more information will emerge in the days and weeks ahead,” she said.

The chair added: “I think it is fair to say that it is this culture, of careless stewardship and indifference to proper process, that has sown the seeds of the crisis that has shaken this institution to its core.”

Ms Ni Raghallaigh pre-empted a question on whether she has confidence in the executive by saying a “blanket yes or no” would be deeply damaging to the diverse range of individuals from different parts of the organisation that make up that group – as well as the staff that report to them.

She said she was taking legal advice on emerging issues.

Former chairwoman of the RTE board Moya Doherty said she was “personally bewildered and devastated” by the crisis over payments at the national broadcaster.

Earlier, Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly expressed a willingness to co-operate with two parliamentary committee probes into the payments and governance scandal at RTE.

A solicitor representing the men wrote to both the Media Committee and Public Accounts Committee indicating a desire to clarify a number of matters and provide “important information”.

Irish premier Leo Varadkar said it had to be established if RTE executives were deliberately misleading parliamentary committees or just providing information that turned out to be wrong.

He said barter accounts were used regularly within the media industry and there was no issue about that.

“It’s the misuse of barter accounts for secret payments, that’s the real issue here,” he said.

He said the Government was not satisfied with answers provided by the organisation so far.

Mr Varadkar said he did currently retain confidence in the executive board, but he said he reserved the right to change that position as further issues arise.

Former director general Dee Forbes quit last week amid the fallout from the scandal.

Tubridy has not presented his weekday morning radio show since the undisclosed payments were first made public.

Ms Forbes has not yet appeared before either of the Oireachtas committee examinations, citing ill-health for her absence.