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”.

Poll

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.