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MINISTER FOR CULTURE and Media Catherine Martin has requested to meet chairwoman of the RTÉ board Siún Ní Raghallaigh and incoming director general Kevin Bakhurst in the coming days.
Among the issues the minister is seeking to discuss is the external review, Bakhurst’s plan to “reconstitute” the executive board, the Grant Thornton review and engaging with RTE staff, the PA news agency understands.
Bakhurst is to take up the role from 11 July. Martin said last weekend that she had not engaged with him on the controversy, insisting it would not be appropriate prior to him taking over.
The broadcaster has been engulfed in crisis amid revelations about its internal financial, accounting and governance practices.
Much of the focus centred on the workings of a UK-based “barter” account used by RTÉ to pay for certain services and tickets and trips related to corporate entertaining.
The National Union of Journalists (NUJ) Irish secretary Seamus Dooley expressed concern after RTÉ board members and senior RTÉ executives appeared before two Oireachtas committees this week.
The NUJ Dublin Broadcasting branch held a meeting yesterday, where its chair Emma O’Kelly, who is also RTÉ’s education correspondent, referred to “alarm” among members at the security of employment in the wake of governance concerns.
Dooley said that the corporate governance failures had come at a “heavy high cost”, and that Bakhurst needs to meet unions and staff as a “top priority”.
The planned meeting comes as a new poll indicates that the majority of the public think RTÉ’s senior management is to blame for the scandal.
The Sunday Independent/Ireland Thinks poll indicates that 73% of people believe senior management are at fault for the scandal, while just 7% believe it is Tubridy’s fault and 4% think his agent, Noel Kelly, is to blame.
Some 12% placed the blame on Dee Forbes, the former director general of RTÉ. Forbes has not commented publicly since she resigned from her role last week.
The majority of those polled – 89% – said they were not satisfied with the accounts given by RTÉ executives at two Oireachtas committee meetings this week.
Some 4% said they were satisfied and 7% said they were not sure.
Those polled were also asked if they thought there had been too much focus on the scandal. 67% said no, 28% said yes and 5% said they were unsure.
Tubridy’s annual earnings published by RTÉ between the years 2017-2022 ranged from €440,000-€491,667 but a review carried out by Grant Thornton has found that his annual earnings from RTÉ in those years actually ranged from €511,667-€545,000.
The issue was partly the result of a deal which saw Tubridy receive additional income from commercial partner Renault, with that income guaranteed and underwritten by RTÉ. The manner in which these payments were recorded led to an understatement of his earnings, with RTÉ apologising for the mistake. Tubridy himself has apologised for “not questioning” the published figures but said doing so was RTÉ’s responsibility.
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Media Minister was made aware of issues in March.
Its now July.
RTE – Robbing Taxes Eirean . Boycott them.
@calum Tierney: I never watch RTE but I still have to pay for the license.
I’ve looked up the meaning of a barter account and found this nonsense “A barter account is where the balance is maintained between a media company and a media bartering company in respect of trades effected by the media company through the bartering company”. Even judge Nolan wouldn’t get a look in with such meaningless tripe.
@Patrice Ahern: no need to try read up definitions on subjects you don’t understand , that’s like reading legal definitions for everyday items , it’s pretty straight forward to understand barter / barter is basically swapping goods or services instead of using cash / so in media advertising slots are bartered for items the media company may want / so you supply say a car if you are car dealer / and you receive advertising to the value of the car / so the car has been bartered / there are specialist barter agencies that facilitate these trades for a commission / they are barter companies / none of this excuses RTE for abusing barter to pay for staff or for excessively overspending on lavish junkets using the barter account I should add / but hopefully this explains the basic of Barter
@Dave Hammond: maybe you can also explain fraud, tax evasion, criminal. Its does matter the meaning of it, the fact it can be used for hiding money and possibly tax evasion is enough.
@Colette Byrne: I was explaining what barter accounts actually are as some readers are not familiar with them / not defending the abuse of them – have you practiced reading comprehension ?
From a financial perspective all organisations have to
a) keep proper books of account
b) prepare financial statements in accordance with those books of account
c) ensure that the financial statements do not contain any material misstatements are not misleading in any way
If substantial amounts were going through a barter account in the background, then it seems that none of the above requirements were being met.
Where’s the Office of the Director of Corporate Enforcement / Controller and Auditor General / Garda Fraud Squad in all this ???
I’m gonna as Dee Forbes pay for my TV licence otherwise they can swing for it. If I don’t pay it’s a €1,000 fine in prison while she can claim medical reasons for not explaining her actions. Time for public stand up and not pay the licence.
Money talks……
Great country
There’s surely a generation now that doesn’t watch RTÉ at all but rather on-demand services, RTÉ cannot compete with that.
Was the media minister on a first class flight on her st paddys day junket like her lettuce head boss back in March when she learned of this….she certainly is green when it comes to doing her job
Not everyone in the high paid jobs are to blame for this scandal but it’s time to pay them a realistic wage for the jobs they are doing, not the ridiculous money paid into companies where they avoid paying tax like every other PAYE person. Pay them for what they do not for what they think they are worth
Catherine “asleep ” Martin .
have your say