Interim RTE boss apologises for ‘drip-feed’ of information

The interim deputy director general of RTE has expressed “profound regret” that standards of governance within the Irish national broadcaster were “far lower than required” on a number of issues.

Adrian Lynch was appearing before the Irish parliament’s Media Committee in Dublin alongside other current and former senior executives and members of the RTE board.

The national broadcaster has been engulfed in crisis after revelations last month that it underreported 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 commercial “barter” account.

The broadcaster acknowledged the existence of further barter accounts in a statement on Tuesday night, despite chief financial officer Richard Collins telling the Public Accounts Committee last week that there was only one such account.

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

“There is one barter account in terms of how it’s looked at financially, but there are three companies that feed into it,” he said.

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.

In his opening statement, Mr Lynch said: “I am acutely aware of the accusations of drip-feed, of non-cooperation and lack of transparency.

“We fully respect and understand this public concern, our staff’s concern, and the proper focus on accountability from the members of the Houses of the Oireachtas.”

Mr Lynch said: “We would also like to put on record to the members of this committee, our profound regret, that as an executive board, the standards of governance on a number of issues was far lower than required.

“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.”

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 executive team so far.

“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.

Ms Ni Raghallaigh also welcomed the reviews into the broadcaster’s accounts, governance and contractors.

“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,” she said.

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 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”.

Fianna Fail senator Malcolm Byrne, a member of the committee, said Tubridy and his agent should appear in a public hearing.

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.

The Taoiseach described the revelations of further RTE barter accounts as a “disquieting development”.

“It’s essential that public trust in RTE is restored following the revelations of the past few weeks and the Government has agreed to proposals for a root-and-branch examination of RTE,” he told the Dail.

Mr Varadkar said full transparency from RTE had been absent and he said that must change “immediately”.

Pressed by Sinn Fein TD Pearse Doherty on whether he believed there would be more resignations at the top of RTE, Mr Varadkar stressed that members of the executive board were entitled to due process.

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.

RTE has provided a series of further documents to Irish parliamentarians to inform their examinations of the affair.

They include a list of the broadcaster’s top 100 salaries, all of which are above 116,000 euro, with the highest earner being paid 515,000 euro.

A letter from ex-director general Ms Forbes, written in the first year of the Covid-19 pandemic, guaranteeing that Tubridy would not be subject to a pay cut between 2020 and 2025 was scrutinised at Wednesday’s committee hearing, as was multimillion-euro losses incurred by RTE’s ill-fated musical based on the Late Late Show’s annual Toy Show episode.

Rory Coveney, director of strategy at RTE, defended the Toy Show musical, which recorded losses of 2.2 million euros in its first year.

“We took a creative and commercial risk to try, and for the best of reasons, to try and create something unique for Irish families and for children at Christmas,” he told the committee.

“I’m not sure if anyone here was at the show, but those who attended it absolutely loved it, particularly children.

“It clearly wasn’t a commercial success but it wasn’t from a lack of effort from everyone involved.”

Since the scandal broke, much focus centred on the workings of a single UK-based barter account used by RTE to pay for certain services and tickets and trips related to corporate entertaining.

It was also used to pay Tubridy an additional 150,000 euro in 2022, an amount that was not publicly declared.

At a meeting of the Public Accounts Committee last week it was revealed that the same barter account was used by RTE to pay out hundreds of thousands of euro to pay for tickets and trips to entertain clients at events such as the Rugby World Cup in Japan, Ireland rugby matches in Dublin and the 2019 Champions League final in Madrid.

On Tuesday, the broadcaster’s woes intensified when it confirmed that two further barter accounts had been identified in a review of its files.

Documents provided to parliamentarians included details on further expenditure through barter account spending.

The committee heard these included 20,900 euro spent on a summer party for agencies and clients in 2016; 12,000 euro for a Bruce Springsteen concert; 7,500 euro for a golf outing with accompanying purchases of golf balls and jackets; and 6,358 euro for tickets for Phil Collins and Robbie Williams’ concerts.

Committee member Brendan Griffin, a Fine Gael TD, was particularly critical of the 4,956 euro spent on 200 pairs of flip flops for a summer party for clients.

“Two hundred pairs of flip flops at 34 euros each – this is what’s going through this account. This isn’t a barter account, this is a slush fund,” he added.

“And all of these entries ask more questions of RTE, who was benefiting, who knew what, why wasn’t this showing up?”

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