RTÉ accounts must be scrutinised by the State
RTÉ’s accounts need to be brought back under State scrutiny by the Comptroller and Auditor General, the chairman of the Public Accounts Committee has urged.
TD Brian Stanley said a draft Oireachtas committee report on the financial and governance crisis at RTÉ calls for the broadcaster’s accounts to be brought back under the oversight of the public auditor.
Mr Stanley said a ‘central recommendation’ would be for RTÉ to come under the scope of the Office of the Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG), which was the case up until 34 years ago. The Sinn Féin TD stressed the final report had yet to be signed off by committee members, but said there had to be an end to the ‘drip feed’ of revelations related to the national broadcaster’s accounts.
RTÉ board chair Siún Ní Raghallaigh said at an Oireachtas hearing last July she believes RTÉ’s finances should be inspected by the C&AG. She said: ‘The auditing of RTÉ’s finances was once a matter for the Comptroller and Auditor General. I feel it is time that it comes under the Comptroller and Auditor General’s purview once again.’ It is the job of the C&AG to regularly audit the accounts of Government departments, State agencies and third-level institutions. RTÉ’s accounts were scrutinised by the C&AG until legislation was changed in 1990, which provided for the then-RTÉ Authority to appoint the auditors of its financial statements on the basis that it would become a ‘commercial’ semi-State body.
This was confirmed in the 2009 Broadcasting Act.
A change in legislation would be required to allow RTÉ to be subject to a C&AG audit in the future.
A spokeswoman for Public Expenditure Minister Paschal Donohoe said the issue is a matter for Media Minister Catherine Martin to consider as the Broadcasting Act 2009 requires RTÉ itself to appoint a qualified auditor.