Good afternoon. Eoghan Dalton here to take you through the latest updates and revelations around RTÉ.

Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has spoken about the controversy in the Dáil, saying that it has to be established if RTÉ executives were deliberately misleading parliamentary committees or just providing information that turned out to be wrong.

“There is a difference between giving incorrect information to a committee or the Dáil, which many of us would have done, and actually lying,” he said.

The Fine Gael leader said barter accounts were used regularly within the media industry and that there was no issue about that.

“It’s the misuse of barter accounts for secret payments, that’s the real issue here,” he added. “And certainly I didn’t become aware of this until the last couple of weeks and only found out last night that there were additional barter accounts.

“And I’m really bothered about that, quite frankly … So we’re not satisfied at all about the answers that we’ve been given by RTE to date, it is below the standards that you would expect, not just of people working in a public body, but of anyone working in any body, quite frankly. It is really not a satisfactory situation.”

Reacting to the latest information, the Irish Secretary of the National Union of Journalists Séamus Dooley said that NUJ members and their colleagues in RTÉ are “shellshocked” at the breakdown of expenditure released by the RTÉ Executive Board to Oireachtas Committees this morning.

The NUJ also noted with particular concern the personal letter issued to Ryan Tubridy by then Director General, Dee Forbes, confirming that his salary would not be subject to cuts, as the union says it came not long after Forbes refusing various measures to ease the pandemic crisis.

“This letter was issued six months after the unilateral suspension of increments and a few months before the imposition of pay cuts,” the statement said.

“The Director General opposed the filling of editorial posts, including temporary posts aimed at providing cover in the RTÉ newsroom during the Covid 19 pandemic.”

The Minister for Arts and Media has confirmed a Grant Thornton investigation into Toy Show the Musical.

In a statement, Minister Catherine Martin said she had also spoken to RTÉ Chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh today for an outline of the board’s position, particularly around what Martin called the “deeply unsatisfactory nature” in which information is being provided by RTÉ’s executive.

Martin said the Board has now written to the Deputy Director General and the incoming Director General Kevin Bakhurst outlining that this has “eroded” the board’s trust and confidence in the executive.

“In this context, the Board has requested that swift action be taken. The Chair will speak more on this issue at the Media Committee today,” Martin said.

RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh is to tell the Oireachtas Media Committee that a culture of “indifference to proper process” has prevailed in RTÉ and is behind the current scandal.

In her opening statement, seen by The Journal, she welcomes that this culture is being reviewed.

“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 adds: “Since I became Chair, and in dealing with this crisis, I have made every effort to pursue the facts, irrespective of where those facts might lead.”

Siún Ní Raghallaigh has also used the opening statement to defend the board’s handling of the crisis since details emerged internally in March.

Her opening statement sets out the actions the board has taken to investigate the company’s finances.

“I am not saying that we have got everything right, but it was the Board who commissioned the Grant Thornton report and brought the initial facts into the light. It was the Board who put the second Grant Thornton process is in train.

“It was the Board who brought disciplinary action against the former Director General. And, as I stated in my opening statement to the Public Accounts Committee last week, it is the Board who will drive the pursuit of the facts.”

With the committee now underway, the chair of RTÉ has hit out at the “evident pattern of inconsistency and lack of completeness” in information provided to date by RTÉ’s executive.

Siún Ní Raghallaigh believes there is a “high probability that more information will emerge” in the days and weeks ahead.

She said the Board depends on the communication of “timely and accurate information” from the executive, and that its confidence in the executive has “eroded” as a result of the crisis.

However, Ní Raghallaigh skirts away from expressing no confidence in the board, explaining that to provide a “blanket yes or no is deeply damaging” to all nine members of the executive.

“If there is a confidence issue, then there is a due process for that which will be employed as necessary. I am taking legal advice on issues that are emerging,” she added.

The board “welcomes the decision” incoming Director General Kevin Bakhurst to reconstitute the executive, Ní Raghallaigh said. 

Concluding her statement, Siún Ní Raghallaigh says that the auditing of RTÉ finances should fall under the oversight of the Comptroller and Auditor General, similar to many other public bodies.

The RTÉ chair says she makes the comment “without pre-empting the outcome of the processes instigated by Government”, and adds: “The auditing of RTÉ’s finances was once a matter for the Comptroller and Auditor General. I feel it is time that it was under the Comptroller’s  purview once again.”

In her own opening statement, former chair Moya Doherty tells TDs that there was “endless opportunities” for members of the executive to bring matters to her attention.

Doherty, who left the role only a few months ago, says the board “had no knowledge” because “we were never told”.

“But let me say that there were endless opportunities for the relevant executives to bring matters of concern to my attention and have very open conversations with me.

“I met executives in formal and informal situations very regularly. I was available to meet in person or at phone anytime,” Doherty says.

Making her first appearance before the committee, former chief financial officer (CFO) of RTÉ Breda O’Keeffe tells politicians that she “refused” a request by Ryan Tubridy’s agent Noel Kelly seeking that his commercial agreement with Renault be underwritten by RTÉ.

This was the deal RTÉ struck to pay Tubridy €75,000 per year as part of a commercial arrangement with the carmaker.

O’Keeffe’s statement reads: “My recollection is that Mr Tubridy’s agent requested that the commercial agreement be underwritten by RTE, and this was refused.

“This continued to be my position and as far as I was aware, that of the Director General, the Head of Content and RTE solicitor up to the date of my departure from RTE in March 2020.

Former chief financial officer Breda O'Keeffe

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

O’Keeffe’s statement is lengthy and had quickly gone overtime before committee chair Niamh Smyth allowed her to continue.

It is based on her recollections in relation to the ‘top talent’ negotiation process during her tenure as CFO, along with contract negotiation with Ryan Tubridy, the top talent earnings disclosures process and the workings of the barter account.

O’Keeffe also claims that current CFO Richard Colins was “incorrect in his recollection that he was only in the CFO role for 3 days when the release of 2017, 2018 and 2019 Top talent earnings were released on 20th January 2021″, as the committee heard last week.

“The CFO was in the office from January 2020,” O’Keeffe says.

The Q&A session gets underway with Kerry TD Brendan Griffin immediately asking CFO Richard Collins why did he tell the committee last week that there was only one barter account, when last night’s revelations show that there were three in total.

Collins claims that he was taking a “consolidated view” and that there’s “three companies feeding into that barter account”.

He likens it to a “weekly shopping bill” where the total may come to €200, but could be divided between different supermarkets, and are “all treated in the same way”.

Ex-CFO Breda O’Keeffe says Ryan Tubridy and his agent Noel Kelly “didn’t refuse to take a [pay] cut” during contract negotiations which became deadlocked, with the issue being the “level of cut” that the presenter was to take.

When Brendan Griffin asks which other senior RTÉ officials were aware of the July 2020 letter from former Director General Dee Forbes guaranteeing his pay would not be cut, interim Director General Adrian Lynch says he was “aware of the side letter” but had not seen its wording.

Current CFO Richard Collins says he was also aware of the letter and that it was discussed at a meeting he attended on 30 April and wording was proposed at that meeting.

Fine Gael deputy Griffin notes it “wasn’t a great bit of business”, with the country “in an awful state at that stage” amid the pandemic.

Sinn Féin TD Imelda Munster challenges commercial director Geraldine O’Leary on the practice of RTÉ executives bringing partners to various events with commercial partners.

She questions the wisdom of the practice from a commercial governance point of view, adding: “I don’t be my husband to the restaurant here. I don’t bring him to the canteen…Why would your husband come along with you at every single event?”

O’Leary defends the role, saying that her job involves “managing key senior level of client and agency relationships is key and stakeholder management skills and ability to build rapport and create trusted, credible, trusted and strong working relationships”.

She adds that while the practice “may be unusual” as RTÉ is dual-funded by the taxpayer and commercial interests, O’Leary maintains she can only answer from the “commercial side of the house”.

Commercial Director Geraldine O’Leary tells the committee that the last two weeks have been an invasion of her privacy, injurious to her mental health and that there have been “erroneous reports” about her involvement with the barter account.

“My husband and I paid for our own hotel in Chicago,” she says.

Mattie McGrath refers back to last week’s meeting when significant confusion arose during his questioning.

“Many people found my humor in my accent,” he notes.

For anyone looking for a reminder…

This was the moment communications broke down between TD Mattie McGrath and interim deputy Director General of RTÉ Adrian Lynch.

"Loyal! Jesus. Loyal, loyal, loyal." pic.twitter.com/m2VGnlFwUC

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) June 28, 2023

McGrath adds that the RTÉ board was “asleep at the wheel” and points to a lack of attendance by then-chair Moya Doherty at the company’s remuneration committee as a “gigantic failure”.

Doherty responds telling the Tipperary TD that she was in regular consultation with the director general during her tenure.

He asks would they have any objections to an investigation by gardaí specialising in fraud.

“If any fraud was committed, of course we would commit to an investigation,” interim director general Adrian Lynch says.

Doherty adds that she is certain that “everyone would cooperate if a garda investigation is necessary but right now the legal advice is there is no fraud”.

Interim director general Adrian Lynch tells Labour senator Maria Sherlock that he is not aware of any other letter of guarantee being offered to RTÉ staff, as was provided to Ryan Tubridy by Dee Forbes in July 2020.

Sherlock adds that “all of these talent contracts” should come to the executive board in future in the interests of “total transparency”, which Lynch agrees with.

He also confirms that there has been no change in Tubridy’s contract situation with RTÉ in the past week.

Amid other questioning, it’s worth noting this commitment as picked by my colleague Carl Kinsella on The Journal’s Twitter coverage.

Adrian Lynch told politicians that there will be a register of interests introduced at RTÉ – similar to that which applies to TDs – on foot of an RTÉ presenter promoting a car on the ground of Montrose as part of an independent commercial deal.

Maria Sherlock has requested an itinerary for a trip paid for through a barter account for the Rugby World Cup in Japan. 

“I believe there’s some speculation that there was a stopover on the way back from Japan so I think we would need to get clarification on that,” she says.

Geraldine O’Leary, commercial director, says it was a trip with one of her colleagues and for clients.

“We flew to Japan via Dubai and came back to Dubai. There was no stopover.

“And I would like to add that the value of the client of the companies that were represented on the trip had spent €38 million across the previous year,” O’Leary says.

Senator Fintan Warfield raises “bogus self-employment” for contractors who worker for sustained periods of time at RTÉ and wonders how those contractors have felt throughout the pay scandal.

Interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch responds by saying that the Department of Social Protection is currently investigating the cases of over 500 individuals who have provided provide service to RTÉ on a contractual basis.

“This process began in October 2020 is likely to continue beyond 2023 summary of investigations to date,” Lynch adds.

Warfield, who requested the details of the top 100 earners at last week’s hearing, calls on RTÉ to consider publishing the pay of its bottom 20 earners on an anonymous basis to show the contrast with those top earners.

Fianna Fáil senator Timmy Dooley tells the RTÉ officials they’re answering questions as best as they can but raises whether there is anything unsaid.

“Is there anything that you’re aware of that would have a material impact on the workings of this committee, that as of yet hasn’t been divulged to us? Are you aware of anything? Is there any sort of chestnut over there that you’re aware of and you’re just hoping that the question isn’t asked?”

Dooley is told ‘no’ in response.

Adrian Lynch says that yesterday saw a staff member return a car to RTÉ which had been loaned to them for the past five years.

This individual was also in receipt of a car allowance, Lynch tells the committee.

“That was not approved,” he adds.

“Is it possible that someone at RTÉ could be in receipt of a car allowance without even holding a driver’s licence?” asks Timmy Dooley as a follow up. Lynch says that he will seek verification on this.

The committee is taking a break and will be back shortly. I’m going to do similar and will leave you in the hands of my colleague Jane Moore who’ll bring you through further updates.

Hello – Jane Moore here. I’ll be taking you the latest updates from RTÉ’s appearance before the Oireachtas Media Committee for the rest of the afternoon.

After a five-minute break, the committee has returned and Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon is speaking.

He says “the good ship RTÉ” seems to have a set of people “living a reasonably lavish lifestyle, and then the galley slaves down below, pulling the oars, trying to keep the show on the road”. 

He asks where the priority is, as RTÉ seems to be “cutting the resources to those who are charged with delivering on RTÉ’s remit” while at the same time, there’s no attempt to cut back on the “significant expenses” around the commercial side of the organisation.

Moya Doherty says there has been “ongoing debate” around the future of public service media.

“I think we need to have now a very focused debate about what type of public service we the country want. Clearly the balance of power shifted to the Commercial and then clearly that gives power to those who bring in big commercial revenue and audiences and that must change,” she says.

“The system is broken, the governance is broken and in some ways that makes for broken people making broken decisions.”

Fine Gael TD Ciarán Cannon. Oireachtas TV Oireachtas TV

Ciarán Cannon is now asking about Soho House - the private members’ club in London which cost RTÉ €4,200. 

Geraldine O’Leary says the membership is in her name and it’s paid on an annual basis. 

She says approximately 5% of RTÉ’s business comes from UK clients. She says RTÉ used to have offices in London to meet clients, but as they no longer have offices in the city, they now meet clients at Soho House instead. It is just used for meeting rooms, not for accommodation. 

Asked if it is the intention to retain that Soho House membership on an ongoing basis, Cannon is told that that will be a matter for the incoming commercial director. 

Independent TD Peter Fitzpatrick tells the RTÉ executives to stop “hiding behind your legal privileges. Stand up, be accountable, face the music and be wiser.”

He asks Breda O’Keeffe whether the high fees for presenters predated Dee Forbes. She says they did. 

She says that the first €75,000 rebate to Renault should have been reflected in Tubridy’s earnings and that she is unaware of the other payments. 

O’Keeffe reiterates to Fitzpatrick a number of times that as she was no longer in RTÉ, she cannot answer questions about Tubridy’s invoices from 2022 and tells Fitzpatrick to direct his questions to the current CFO.

Oireachtas TV Oireachtas TV

Richard Collins denies to Peter Fitzpatrick that he was trying to mislead the committee about the number of barter accounts – he reiterates that there is one barter account and three companies that feed into it.

“I wasn’t trying to mislead or hide anything,” he says.

Returning to the car that was returned yesterday, Fine Gael Senator Micheál Carrigy asks Adrian Lynch what role the person who had the car holds within RTÉ. 

Lynch says he cannot give that information as it would lead to speculation about who the person is. 

Micheál Carrigy asks Moya Doherty why Larry Bass only attended one RTÉ board meeting before he resigned. 

Doherty says Bass’s entire income is derived from RTÉ and that he had to recuse himself from some of the meeting.

She says that Professor Niamh Brennan – who will be chairing the review of RTÉ’s governance and culture – advised that it was a conflict of interest for him to be on RTÉ’s board.

“Larry Bass was not thrown under a bus. Larry Bass was not asked to resign. Larry Bass resigned in order to protect his own company. It was a conflict of interest, and I hope we learn from that,” she says.

Just one more thing…

If you missed the moment the committee heard when a car that had been on loan for five years to an RTÉ employee was returned, you can watch it below. 

This was the moment Senator Timmy Dooley pulled a Columbo to ask when a car on loan for five years to an RTÉ employee was returned. pic.twitter.com/yxp6O3ZQ3i

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) July 5, 2023

Micheál Carrigy asks Siún Ní Raghallaigh if she feels there needs to be widespread changes at the top level in RTÉ.

“I think everything has to be looked at, and that includes the top level,” Ní Raghallaigh says, adding that this is being discussed by the incoming director general, Kevin Bakhurst.

Star presenter Ryan Tubridy continues to be paid by RTÉ, according to Adrian Lynch.

“There were negotiations going on about a radio contract, those negotiations – as a result of all of this – were suspended,” he tells Micheál Carrigy.

“So currently, as we said, we are still paying Ryan Tubridy and there are certain elements of the contract that are in dispute with the agent.”

Sinn Féin TD John Brady says the figures for Toy Show The Musical were more “personally sensitive” than commercially sensitive, which was the reason given to the committee for not providing them last week. 

Brady asks Rory Coveney whether the barter account was used to cover any cost related to Toy Show The Musical. 

Coveney says it was not.

John Brady now turns to Richard Collins. The chief financial officer told the Public Accounts Committee last week that it was his opinion that the taxpayer may have been defrauded in relation to the €75,000 payments made to Ryan Tubridy.

He also said that he would have to take advice on whether he would make a complaint to Gardaí. 

Brady asks Collins whether he has taken the opportunity to take this advice.

Collins responds: “No, because the legal advice is that fraud hasn’t occurred here.”

John Brady seeks clarification on whether the date on the tripartite agreement, which states that it was signed by NK Management in April 2023, is accurate.

Geraldine O’Leary says it is her understanding that it is accurate. 

Brady wants to continue on the issue, but Niamh Smyth has to suspend the committee as there is a vote in the Dáil. 

RTÉ’s NUJ Broadcasting Branch has released a statement stating that ordinary workers at RTÉ are “incredibly upset and reeling today at the further revelations that have emerged in relation to spending at RTÉ”.

The statement says the contrast between “the lavish spending we are hearing about and how ordinary staff were being treated during these years is staggering”.

It says that in July 2020, when former director general Dee Forbes was writing to Ryan Tubridy to assure him his payments would not be cut, many young workers at RTÉ were going into their sixth month without pay increments they were due because RTÉ had unilaterally suspended the payments in January.

“Five months later RTÉ looked for pay cuts from all staff, having previously warned that the broadcaster was facing an “existential crisis”,” it continues.

NUJ Broadcasting Branch chair Emma O Kelly said: “We are hearing about RTÉ paying for the use of a private members club in London. Meanwhile RTÉ’s former London Correspondent Fiona Mitchell was forced to use cafes around that city as an office to report on Brexit because RTÉ had given up its office in London. Fiona was forced to use toilet facilities in cafes as a quiet space to record her voice for TV and radio reports.

O Kelly also said that 2020 was an extremely stressful year for workers across the country and that like all other workers, “we at RTÉ were struggling to continue working in the midst of the Covid crisis”.

“In 2020 we were being contacted by NUJ members who were upset and anxious and stressed by problems with Covid payments, with precarious contracts being abruptly terminated due to Covid, and with many other Covid related challenges that people across the country will be very familiar because they were experiencing similar during that time,” she said.

We share the disgust of the public. It is galling in the extreme for ordinary RTÉ staff to hear that during this tough period for us the company was reassuring its most highly paid presenter that his pay would not be cut.

“We are sickened to hear of money spent on pop concerts and other hospitality and perks, including – unbelievably – 200 pairs of flip flops at a cost of €25 each”.

She said the branch is “furious to read of extravagant special allowances being given to those already extremely highly paid people included among the top 100 paid”.

“All this is further proof of the ‘them and us’ culture that has operated for so long at RTÉ.”

The committee has resumed after it was suspended for a Dáil vote and John Brady has been given one minute to seek clarity on the tripartite agreement. 

He says the agreement was only signed by NK a month and a half after Deloitte raised concerns over the payments, and that no one from RTÉ signed the document.

Brady asks whether anyone has checked out the legality of the agreement since it is missing a signature. 

Adrian Lynch says what underwrites the entire contract is the verbal agreement given by Dee Forbes to NK in May 2020. 

Lynch says RTÉ contacted NK in March of this year for clarification around the invoices and they received confirmation of what the invoices were and that they were sent based on a verbal agreement between the agent and Forbes.

Geraldine O’Leary clarifies that the tripartite agreement was requested by Renault in order to firm up the deal. “I should’ve signed it, I cannot comment on why NK signed it in April,” she adds.

Christopher O’Sullivan is up next. The Fianna Fáil TD asks Adrian Lynch whether he knows what brand the car was that was returned yesterday. 

Lynch says he can’t comment on it.

Christopher Sullivan asks Breda O’Keeffe if she feels she was thrown under a bus by RTÉ’s statement last week 

O’Keeffe says: “I worked for RTÉ for 18 years and I hope I did some good. I’m very proud of the organisation so it’s very important to me for myself, for my own reputation but also a bit for the organisation.”

She says there’s an awful lot of people within the organisation currently who work so hard for the organisation.

She says she “wanted to set the record straight”. 

“I would say my recollections were more akin to what happened, is my view. I’m a detail person, I always have been, so I go into the detail when I think of it.”

O’Sullivan asks again whether O’Keeffe feels Dee Forbes was “thrown under a bus” by RTÉ’s initial statement?

“I can’t comment on that,” O’Keeffe says. 

Committee chair Niamh Smyth has suspended proceedings again to allow for another Dáil vote. 

In case you missed it earlier, there was a tense moment between Peter Fitzpatrick and former RTÉ chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe. 

"I am not the current CFO of RTÉ, nor have I been since 2020."

A tense moment between independent TD Peter Fitzpatrick and former RTÉ Chief Financial Officer Breda O'Keeffe. pic.twitter.com/Xj7q26VQxt

— TheJournal.ie (@thejournal_ie) July 5, 2023

We’re back and Christopher O’Sullivan is still asking questions. 

He asks Rory Coveney if Ryan Tubridy was asked to record a promotion for Toy Show The Musical. The committee heard earlier that Tubridy wasn’t interested in having any involvement in the musical.

Coveney says there were discussions about how he might participate, but that he wasn’t sure how much promotion Tubridy did for Toy Show The Musical on his own radio show.

“There wasn’t a hostile conversation. He just wasn’t interested,” Coveney says.

Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon asks Richard Collins when it was decided that RTÉ should underwrite the payments to Ryan Tubridy. 

Collins says he attended a meeting where it was confirmed that there would be no guarantee given. A subsequent meeting was then held seven days later involving Dee Forbes, RTÉ’s in-house solicitor, Noel Kelly and one other person from the agency.

Lynch says he can’t say why it was decided to underwrite the deal because it is under legal privilege.

O’Keeffe adds that she was not alone in the rejection of the guarantee. “When I left the organisation, nobody was in favour of underwriting the contract,” she says.  

Alan Dillon asks Geraldine O’Leary if any of the guests attending corporate hospitality events are from the public sector or semi state agencies. 

O’Leary says she will have to check and will furnish a list of clients and what events they attended to the committee. 

Niamh Smyth is asking Rory Coveney about Toy Show The Musical. She says the Convention Centre is a very expensive venue to hire and asks if consideration was given to other venues.

Coveney says they looked at a couple of other venues, including the Bord Gáis. They didn’t want to do it, so we ended up in the Convention Centre, he says, adding that they felt it was the right size for the type of show they wanted to put on.

Smyth asks whether consideration was given to the commercial impact it might have had on the more traditional pantos and musicals, given the timings clashed with a lot of other shows.

Coveney says they were trying to compete with international shows coming to the Bord Gáis and wanted to create something that was about our culture and communities. “Panto is a different market,” he says. 

“Of course we would’ve considered what the competition would be, but ultimately we thought this would have added to the sector.”

Niamh Smyth now turns to Adrian Lynch to ask about the process of deciding who the new host of The Late Late Show should be.

Lynch says that a list of people who could be suitable was drawn up by the director of content. The long list would have had 20 names, but that “hardly any at all” on the list would have known they were on it at all. 

It wasn’t an open application given the size of the show and people would not be in a position to apply, Lynch says. “You need significant broadcasting experience in terms of hosting that.”

We now know that Patrick Kielty will be taking up Late Late Show hosting duties in September. The incoming presenter revealed his salary last week. 

Fianna Fáil TD and Chair of Media Committee Niamh Smyth. Oireachtas TV Oireachtas TV

Niamh Smyth concludes by asking Geraldine O’Leary if she will furnish the committee with a list of who would’ve been at Soho House and what meetings were held there since 2019.

O’Leary says she will. 

Richard Boyd Barrett asks RTÉ representatives whether they have engaged with any elected representatives of the RTÉ staff “since all of this blew up”?

He says they’re “very worried and angry”, adding: “I think as a matter of absolutely urgency… the executive and the board need to listen to the workers and the staff in there who are victims of this and to listen to their ideas about what needs to change about RTÉ”.

Adrian Lynch says the representatives have been very focused on trying to bring information to the House, but that they will immediately engage with those representative groups.

Fianna Fáil TD James O’Connor asks the RTÉ chair about whether having Kevin Bakhurst as the incoming director general is a “contradiction” in establishing a new culture at RTÉ going forward. 

“You might look at it that way and you might look at it as an advantage,” Siún Ní Raghallaigh says.

She says Bakhurst knows RTÉ extremely well and that his experience is “invaluable to the organisation”, adding that that was the basis for which he was chosen for the role. 

Bakhurst was appointed Managing Director of News and Current affairs at RTÉ in 2012 and remained in that position until 2016. He also served as deputy director general.

Fianna Fáil Senator Eugene Murphy asks whether there are any other “secret car deals”. 

Adrian Lynch says the information is still coming in because there is a staff of 1,800 people, but says he will be looking at everything and will share it once he has it compiled. 

Murphy asks whether there may be more car deals.

“It’s possible,” Lynch responds. 

As the Committee meeting came to a close, chair of RTÉ’s audit and risk committee Anne O’Leary was asked about the decision to accept Dee Forbes’ resignation.

O’Leary explained that she “thought it was more immediate” than going through a potential dismissal process.

In a lightening-round of questions, Labour senator Marie Sherlock also got one in on whether Ryan Tubridy or his agent Noel Kelly ever tried to correct the record on his published earnings.

RTÉ executives said they weren’t certain but would find out for the committee.

And with the committee having ended, so will this liveblog. Thanks for following along and be sure to keep an eye on The Journal later this evening for more on RTÉ following today’s revelations. Slán.