RTE’s incoming director general vows to ‘restore trust’ in broadcaster

RTE’s incoming director general has said he faces a huge challenge to restore trust in Ireland’s national broadcaster.

Kevin Bakhurst, who takes charge of the crisis-hit organisation on Monday, was commenting after meeting Irish media minister Catherine Martin in Dublin.

RTE has been reeling since revelations last month that it under-reported the salary paid to star presenter Ryan Tubridy and failed to disclose 345,000 euro of additional payments to him between 2017 and 2022.

The furore has since widened amid further disclosures about RTE’s internal financial, accounting and governance practices.

Mr Bakhurst had already signalled an intent to reconstitute the executive board at RTE. On Thursday he said that process would begin on Monday.

Emerging from the meeting with Ms Martin, an encounter he described as “frank and very useful”, Mr Bakhurst told waiting reporters: “My job is to restore trust, clearly that’s been severely damaged.

“Again, I apologise for that. But that’s my job, to restore trust in this organisation.

“That’s what I’ll try to do. And I’ll be setting out a lot more detail on Monday about how we intend to do that.”

Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly are to appear before two parliamentary committee probes into the payments and governance scandal at RTE on Tuesday.

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”.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar on Thursday welcomed their decision to appear before the committees, stating that they “made the right decision” and “have a story to tell”.

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

RTE executives have faced claims of “drip-feeding” information to parliamentarians in the two weeks since the scandal broke.

After Thursday’s meeting, Ms Martin said she had made clear she was “not satisfied” with the way details were emerging.

“The drip-feed of information over the past two weeks has been another blow to RTE and has caused untold harm,” she said.

The minister said she emphasised to Mr Bakhurst the critical need to “change the tone and culture between the executive and the board and staff”.

But Transport Minister Eamon Ryan encouraged people to continue to pay their TV licence, saying it was important “more than ever to provide for good quality journalism”.

“I encourage every household to pay because it’s important,” the Green Party leader said.

“RTE has been a very successful public service broadcaster for the people in this country – knowing the truth, having accuracy and fairness and balance, particularly in current affairs but also having a service that entertains us, that covers sports. If we stop paying, we lose all that and that will be really harmful and bad for our country.”

Asked if he had confidence in the current RTE executive board, Mr Bakhurst said he would be making a more detailed statement on Monday.

He said there were individuals involved and he needed to speak to them first.

“There are individuals involved here, I need to talk to them and also want to talk to staff before I come out and say something publicly and, for me, restoring the trust of the audience and of staff and of politicians in RTE is absolutely key to what we’re trying to do here,” he said.

He said trust in RTE had been “severely diminished”.

“It’s been a highly damaging two weeks for RTE and it’s been painful to watch,” he said.

“But I’m looking forward to starting the job and trying to repair that.”

Mr Bakhurst also said he was concerned about the finances of RTE.

Commenting on the job he was walking into, he said: “It’s a huge challenge, it wasn’t quite the challenge that I thought I was taking on when I took on this job but it’s a challenge that I’ll do my absolute best to deliver it with the right team around me.”

Asked what his message was to licence fee payers who were contemplating not paying as a result of the scandal, Mr Bakhurst urged them to look at the actions and “what we’re trying to do to restore trust”.

He also praised how the news and current affairs arm of RTE had covered the story about its own organisation.

Chairwoman of RTE’s oversight board, Siun Ni Raghallaigh, also attended Thursday’s meeting with Ms Martin, as did the interim deputy director general, Adrian Lynch.

Commenting on staff sentiment at RTE, Mr Bakhurst said: “I fully recognise the morale is on the floor and my priority next week is to get around the organisation, my top priority is to go around the organisation and talk to staff and hear their concerns.

“Adrian (Lynch) and I have already been talking about trying to meet the unions possibly tomorrow, if they’re available.

“So we want to start this. I don’t start till Monday, this is the most work I’ve done for no payment so far in my life in the last few weeks. But I’m happy to do it.”

Asked when his planned reconstitution of the executive board would commence, he replied: “It will start on Monday.”

He declined to comment on the revelation that a staff member at RTE had a car loaned to them for five years without approval – and only returned it this week.

He said there may be a “process” initiated around that issue. “If necessary there will be one, and I can’t talk about that any further at the moment, I’m sorry,” he said.

On Thursday afternoon, RTE star and sports reporter Marty Morrissey apologised for taking part in an “informal” arrangement where he used a Renault car after MCing a dozen events for the car brand.

He said he returned the car “voluntarily” on Friday June 23 after reflecting on the controversy at RTE and concluding that the “ad hoc” arrangement was “an error of judgment”.

“I have apologised to RTE, my managers and colleagues for any embarrassment or difficulty I have caused them because of this matter,” Mr Morrissey said.

Mr Bakhurst said his job had “changed hugely” from the one he believed he was taking on when he was selected as the next director general.

He said the task of restoring trust now had to take precedence in the first instance over his wider vision to create a “forward-looking, digital-first, public service media organisation”.

“There’s no doubt my job has changed hugely, right,” he said.

Asked about RTE’s use of a commercial barter account, Mr Bakhurst said he was aware of a barter account that traded airtime from his previous stint at RTE.

Barter accounts are commonplace in the media industry. They allow organisations to exchange advertising airtime that would otherwise go unsold in return for goods 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.

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

She had originally been due to stand down this month, with experienced media executive Mr Bakhurst having already been announced as her successor.