RTÉ director general role leaks 'unfortunate'

Incoming RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst. Photograph: Steve Langan

The RTÉ boardroom leaks concerning the hiring of the organisation’s new director general were “unfortunate” and “something nobody wanted to see,” an Oireachtas committee has heard.

Recently appointed chair of the RTÉ board, Siún Ní Raghallaigh said RTÉ must “build up trust again,” following the leak which was labelled as “unfair”.

Fianna Fáil Senator Malcolm Byrne said: “It was not appropriate that a lot of that process was aired in public media, I think it’s completely unfair to any of the candidates who were involved.” 

Ms Ní Raghallaigh said it was “a unanimous decision” by the board to name Kevin Bakhurst to replace Dee Forbes, who will step down in July.

“It’s very unfortunate what happened, nobody wanted to see that,” she said before adding: “It happened so I have to deal with it and that’s what we’re doing.”

 Fianna Fáil Senator Shane Cassells noted that it would be “hypocritical in the extreme” for politicians to criticise the organisation for leaks “given that everything in these buildings gets leaked on a daily basis to journalists, many employed by RTÉ.” 

However, Mr Cassells said it has caused reputational damage to candidates for the role as well as “brand damage” to RTÉ.

Noting that Ms Ní Raghallaigh spoke in depth about the commercial future of the broadcasting service, Mr Cassells said there was a perspective that David McRedmond, a candidate for the role, could have “turned around” the financial fortunes of RTÉ given his experience, saying he revolutionised An Post. However, Ms Ní Raghallaigh refused to comment.

TV licence

Separately, she said the rapid growth of ‘No TV’ homes requires changes to the TV licence system amid “financial constraints” Ms Ní Raghallaigh said the media landscape is “increasingly competitive and fragmented”.

“The TV licence fee does not reflect how media is consumed and a Government decision and plan on its reform must be enacted swiftly to ensure public service media is to survive and thrive,” she said.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh said Ireland’s population of over 5 million is “too small” to sustain RTÉ by licence fee alone while international streaming services pose a real risk of “cultural dilution”.

“There are challenging times ahead, but it is also a significant moment of opportunity, for the reimagining of a new RTÉ,” she said.

Although not saying that the rate should be increased, issues surrounding evasion of the fee in addition to changing consumption of media are posing a challenge, while RTÉ has been absorbing inflationary costs.

When asked if the RTÉ Montrose site was valued or if it was needed, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said renovations were ongoing on the “fine site” and that it had not been valued. 

Fine Gael TD Brendan Griffin questioned if the site might be a surplus to the organisation’s requirements, saying that Virgin Media can operate “very well” out of an industrial estate in Ballymount compared to RTÉ’s central location.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh said the site will be part of an ongoing strategic review in which “everything is being looked at”.