Board faces another grilling with chair set to admit shortcomings

THE chair of the RTÉ board will tell the Oireachtas Media Committee today it is ‘clear’ to her that the executive at the national broadcaster ‘should have been interrogated by the board’ in a ‘much more vigorous fashion’ about the Toy Show musical.

‘In this regard, the board acknowledge they should have asked more questions, and it is a source of regret for each member that they did not,’ Siún Ní Raghallaigh will say. ‘We take collective responsibility for the board’s responsibility in this debacle.’

Ms Ní Raghallaigh will also say that the board regrets the shortcomings highlighted in the report, but will add that structures ‘have now been reformed and strengthened’ through: redefining the relationship between the board and the executive, making risk assessment ‘central in all decision making’ at interim leadership level, and the board now receiving the minutes of all interim leadership team meetings at its scheduled meetings.

In addition, a new formal approval process has been established for significant expenditure projects, which goes through both the interim leadership team and the board, while all submissions relating to material expenditure approvals must now include a risk assessment and a business case of larger expenditure amounts, going onwards to the board for final approval or otherwise. The level above which board authorisation is required has dropped from €2million to €1million, and this applies to sports rights, programme acquisitions, programme commissions and operating expenditure.

Director general Kevin Bakhurst will tell the committee it has been a ‘difficult and dispiriting time for RTÉ’, but that he is determined to ensure the organisation emerges stronger from it. He will say: ‘The process of earning back trust is already under way. There is a new leadership team in place. We are adhering to better standards of information exchange, assessment and decision making. We work collaboratively with the RTÉ board on major operational and strategic decision, and this board has been very supportive in delivering the change we need… Importantly, there is a muchimproved internal communications programme in place with staff, as we set about working toward a new future together with some significant legacy issues.’ Mr Bakhurst will say that RTÉ ‘will once again become an organisation the country can be proud of’, and that ‘stability in our finance’ will be a key pillar in achieving that.