RTÉ should ‘immediately’ give details of exit payments

RTÉ SHOULD ‘immediately’ reveal the total value of substantial exit payments given to executives last year as they are now ‘overdue’.

Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin, a member of the Oireachtas Media Committee, has demanded that RTÉ reveal the total paid in golden handshakes.

Last month, RTÉ said it would look at bringing forward the publication of a section of its annual report which details the total amount spent on ‘termination benefits’ for executives.

However, a month later, an RTÉ spokesman has said that a date for publishing this figure has ‘not been set as yet’.

The Kerry TD said he is ‘sick to the teeth’ of RTÉ’s approach to handing over information, and said the figure was ‘already overdue’.

He added: ‘This approach is consistent with their approach right since the start of the controversy last June, in terms of being absolutely tardy in providing us with information. The more and more this goes on I’m not convinced there has been a significant culture change in RTÉ.’

The broadcaster has been under pressure after it emerged that RTÉ’s former chief financial officer, Breda O’Keeffe, got a €450,000 noncompliant redundancy payment.

The director general, Kevin Bakhurst, said legal obligations prevented him from revealing the details of the packages he negotiated with the departed staff last year.

A spokesman for RTÉ said that the broadcaster is currently preparing the 2023 annual report and group financial statements and ‘consideration is being given to the separate publication of an aggregate figure’.

Taoiseach-in-waiting Simon Harris last month issued a strong call for RTÉ to reveal the figure immediately, remarking: ‘This constant saga needs to end... RTÉ has a legal obligation to provide details in relation to the aggregate amount of exit payments. They don’t need to wait until Monday or Tuesday. Get out a calculator and add up the figures, and before the Six One News produce them.’

Politicians have also called for RTÉ to reveal the breakdown of over €2.6million worth of executive exit payments between 2016 and 2022.

Over a month ago, Mr Bakhurst also said that RTÉ would contact the ‘eight or nine’ former executives who got packages and ask them to waive their right to confidentiality. However, he said it was ‘unlikely’.

Asked if RTÉ has had any responses, the spokesman said the station ‘awaits some responses. There is no further comment at this time’.

Meanwhile, the Government’s reports into problems at RTÉ have been delayed as the cost of the reviews reaches €477,000 to date.

The external reports by two expert committees launched last July have now been delayed until April.

Media Minister Catherine Martin said last month that she expected to have the reports submitted to her by the end of March. However, she has still not received them, according to a department spokesman.

The future funding model for RTÉ will be one of the first big decisions on the agenda for Mr Harris. The Government has committed to making a decision on it by the summer recess.

A department spokesman said they ‘understand’ that the review on governance and culture at RTÉ is ‘undergoing the completion of the necessary fact-checking procedures’. This review and the examination of HR matters will be submitted at the same time.

‘Sick to the teeth’ of RTÉ’s approach