LAST UPDATE | 14 Feb
TAOISEACH LEO VARADKAR has said there is a “culture of arrogance” among senior figures within RTÉ, and there has been “poor governance” around decisions being made.
Speaking in the Dáil, he said he believed top executives that have not appeared before an Oireachtas committee should do so, stating that he wanted to be very clear about that.
His comments come as chair of the Oireachtas Media Committee has expressed her disappointment that “key players” within RTÉ will not be attending today’s hearing.
The committee currently underway is discussing governance and transparency issues within RTÉ, as well as future funding challenges facing the national broadcaster.
Committee chair Niamh Smyth said the “driving forces” won’t be attending today.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald said the “government must end the merry-go-round of dither, of delay, and contradiction now”, she said.
“Scrap the TV licence and replace it with Exchequer funding to ensure a better future for public service media.”
Varadkar responded by asking whether Sinn Fein’s policy includes offering a rebate to those who have paid for their TV licence.
“I believe that many people should obey the law and I believe that many people should pay their taxes and pay their charges,” he said.
“I think it would be an affront and an insult to the majority of decent, law-abiding citizens who have paid their TV licence fee to now grant an amnesty to those who didn’t
“And I think it would be an affront and an insult to the majority of decent, law-abiding citizens who have paid their TV licence fee to now grant an amnesty to those who didn’t. I think (that) would be profoundly unfair,” added the Taoiseach.
A vote is to take place on Sinn Féin’s Dáil motion calling for a legal amnesty for those who have not paid their TV licence fee in the wake of controversies which were revealed last year, and for the abolition of the TV licence system.
Instead Sinn Fein is proposing a direct Exchequer-funded model.
McDonald told the Taoiseach that public trust in RTE has “crumbled” in the wake of a series of revelations relating to the broadcaster’s governance and finances, and that people “feel taken for fools”.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, ahead of this afternoon’s committee meeting, the chair, Fianna Fáil TD Niamh Smyth said: “Unfortunately, a lot of the key players who are involved in the Toy Show itself and the driving forces behind, them such as Rory Coveney and Maya Doherty, and obviously Dee Forbes, will not be available or in in the room today.”
Former RTÉ Director of Strategy Rory Coveney, former chair of the RTÉ Board Moya Doherty, former chief financial officer Breda O’Keeffe, and former director-general Dee Forbes were all invited to attend today’s hearing.
However, none of the above will be in attendance today.
“It is farcical that the key people who are the brainchild of the RTÉ the musical piece are not going to be in the room, I don’t think that that is acceptable,” said Smyth.
She added that the secretary of the committee has been instructed to “seek out guidance for us as a committee as to where we can go with this”.
Smyth added: “The key people involved in all of this, not just the exit packages, not just the Toy Show The Musical, the broader picture on culture and how the board are treated and how the relationship is, are not going to be in the room.
“We’re very mindful of that and to conclude any sort of substantial report, I think we need to have a conversation with those people.”
Smyth also said that a “number of apologies sent to the committee” were made in “recent days” and that this limited the committee’s “scope for compellability prior to today’s meeting”.
“So we have to work with what we’ve got and who’s in the room and then consider our position into the next phase,” said Smyth.
However, Smyth said “there’s a lot that can be achieved in our interrogation with the board”.
Meanwhile, the cost threshold blocking RTÉ projects from going ahead without board approval has been halved.
It comes after a report into Toy Show The Musical – which recorded a €2.2 million loss after a single season in 2022 – found that formal approval by the board for the musical was neither sought nor provided, despite that being a requirement for projects with expenditure of above €2 million.
It also found the board was not appropriately informed of the project throughout its development and the commercial risks were vastly underestimated.
RTÉ board chairwoman Siun Ni Raghallaigh is expected to again apologise to the Oireachtas committee today for deficiencies in governance.
In particular, she will say there was a significant lapse in oversight of Toy Show The Musical.
She will tell the TDs and senators that governance structures at RTÉ have been reformed and structured since the controversy.
Ni Raghallaigh will outline how the relationship with the board and the executive has been redefined.
In addition, the board now receives the minutes of all scheduled meetings of RTÉ’s interim leadership team.
Risk assessments are to be centralised in all decisions of the leadership team.
In addition, a new formal approval process has been established for major expenditure projects and all submissions on expenditure approvals must include a business case and risk assessment.
The lower board authorisation limit will apply to sports rights, programme acquisitons, programme commissions and operating expenditure.
RTÉ director-general Kevin Bakhurst will tell deputies that reviews into governance failures at the broadcaster have helped guide the introduction of reforms.
He will say RTÉ has experienced a difficult and dispiriting period after the controversy into financial mismanagement at the broadcaster emerged last year.
Bakhurst will outline an ambition to make RTÉ an organisation that the country can be proud of again.
-With additional reporting from Press Association
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