LAST UPDATE | 22 Sep 2023
TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said if RTÉ breached the law or a confidentiality clause by sharing contractual details of three former executives it could open itself up to a compensation claim.
RTÉ has refused to give a powerful committee contractual details of three former executives.
Public Accounts Committee chairman Brian Stanley has said that committee members received a number of documents this week but some had been withheld by the national broadcaster.
The withheld documents include the contract of former Director General Dee Forbes and the terms of the exits of former Head of Commercial Geraldine O’Leary and former Chief Financial Officer Breda O’Keeffe.
However, RTÉ Director General Kevin Bakhurst has insisted that RTÉ is cooperating with the Oireachtas and providing the documents that it can within legal limitations.
Speaking to reporters in New York today, Varadkar said RTÉ should provide the information if it can.
“But I do appreciate that there may be legal reasons, reasons why they can’t. And I imagine they have legal advice and of course, if they breached the law or confidentiality clause, in doing so they would then be open to a compensation claim and the cost of that will probably fall back on the taxpayer.
“So I think RTE needs to give any information that it can but if it’s legally barred from doing so, I can understand why they can’t,” he said.
Speaking to RTE’s Morning Ireland, Brian Stanley said: “There’s a number of documents that we didn’t get, very important ones that actually we didn’t get was – and I can confirm this to you – is the terms and conditions of the voluntary exit package for Geraldine O’Leary, the former head of commercial at RTE, and Breda O’Keeffe, the former chief financial officer, her exit package. We have been refused that.
“We have also been refused Dee Forbes’ contract, she’s the former director general who we haven’t had the opportunity to speak to her yet and we’re anxious to speak to her.
“We didn’t get theirs and that’s very disappointing because (they’re) three people who have been very central to all of this.”
Stanley said that O’Leary and O’Keeffe, as well as Forbes, would be invited to appear before a scheduled committee appearance on 5 October.
O’Leary has appeared before both the Public Accounts Committee and the Media Committee, while O’Keeffe has appeared before the Media Committee.
Forbes has not appeared before an Oireachtas committee yet, nor participated in any of the subsequent investigations into governance at RTE, citing ill health.
Stanley questioned whether other staff at RTE are also receiving such packages, adding that the committee will be seeking legal advice over the issue.
He said: “The question is here and most of your listeners will understand this, is that if you leave a job, when the term is up or when you reach the stage that you’re accepted for a pension… in a lot of jobs, there will be a financial package at the end of that and perhaps a pension.
“If you leave a job voluntarily, the expectation is that doesn’t exist. And the question is here is did that exist?”
Stanley said there was a suggestion that not all RTE staff receive such exit packages, and the committee wants the details of any possible “hefty” payments that may have been given to outgoing executives.
He added: “There’s a very straight question here for RTE to answer: What system was in place here for senior executives who are exiting?”
Responding to the complaints, Bakhurst has said that the broadcaster’s decision not to disclose certain documents was due to legal and contractual obligations, stating that RTÉ is “fully cooperating with both Committees and being as thorough and transparent as we possibly can within what is permissible in law”.
He said RTÉ has provided the Public Accounts Committee with more than 160 documents that it has requested, including a document that contained more than 500 emails relating to payments to Ryan Tubridy and a timeline of events related to his contract
“Where documents have not been provided, this is because of legal and contractual obligations which preclude RTÉ from providing personal information. We are not ‘refusing’ to provide them,” Bakhurst said in a statement this afternoon.
That said, I can confirm what we have previously said publicly which is that that there was no exit payment made to Dee Forbes on her resignation or to Geraldine O’Leary who left seven weeks early to take retirement.
“Due to issues raised about voluntary exit payments to former RTÉ employees, including Breda O’Keeffe, I commissioned an independent Review of VEP Schemes (2017 and 2021) in August. This is being carried out by McCann Fitzgerald (Solicitors) and will be completed in the coming weeks,” he said.
“However, we need to note that every individual at every level in RTÉ has a legal right to confidentiality and sometimes there are other legal constraints relating to departures as I’m sure the Committee will recognise.
“RTÉ is also continuing to explore how we can cut costs through measures such as those introduced last week and maximise funding of RTÉ’s public services through commercial revenue, while also working hard to restore trust in the organisation.”
With reporting by Political Correspondent Christina Finn in New York and additional reporting by Lauren Boland
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