RTÉ: Five things we should learn from Oireachtas meeting
Kevin Bakhurst and Siún Ní Raghallaigh following a meeting with Communications Minister Catherine Martin. Picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins Photos
The latest developments in the RTÉ financial fiasco are set to play out this afternoon as the broadcaster once again appears before an Oireachtas committee.
New director general Kevin Bakhurst will lead a team representing RTÉ before the Oireachtas media committee at 1.30pm today. It will be Mr Bakhurst's first time appearing before the media committee since taking up the role, though he has already appeared before the Public Accounts Committee as DG.
On Monday, more than 175 files requested by the committee were published, all pertaining to RTÉ's finances.
RTÉ anticipates a loss of up to €21m in TV licence fee revenue by the end of the year and has requested €34.5m in separate interim funding from the Government. But in order to get that, it will need to answer plenty of questions on Wednesday.
Here, we look at five issues that could be addressed.
Among the 178 files was the number of car allowances paid to employees in 2022.
In total, more than €650,000 was paid out to 61 RTÉ employees — but it remains unclear how many staff members who claimed the allowance had a driving licence, as there were no checks done by RTÉ.
The value of the allowances ranged from between €1,000 to €1,500 all the way up to €24,000-€25,000, with six people receiving the top range.
This is sure to be among the first issues raised by committee members.
One of the many questionable admissions from the original wave of Oireachtas meetings was RTÉ's membership at Soho House — a club in London for executives. RTÉ defended itself saying that it needed the facility for meetings.
However, documents released this week show it was used by RTÉ just twice since 2019, once in December 2022 and once in April 2023.
The broadcaster spent €6,009 on three years’ worth of membership of the exclusive members club just for the years between 2019 to 2021.
In a previous appearance, committee members had requested a list of the top 100 earners in RTÉ as well as their salaries.
The broadcaster's representatives had indicated they were willing to supply that, but it did not appear in the files on Monday evening.
They said that they hadn't even put the question to their staff and were unsure if they could due to data protection issues.
Committee chair Deputy Niamh Smyth said that they were simply looking for clarity and that it was "unacceptable" if RTÉ couldn't provide it.
Speaking on Morning Ireland, Ms Smyth said: "We're not looking for names, but we are looking for clarity on where the balance is on the top 100 earners. We know there's 1800 staff working within RTÉ, and the vast majority of them are not the top 100 earners.”
Public anger at the fiasco has hit RTÉ where it hurts — financially.
People are opting not to pay their TV licence fees, with well over €1m already lost in funding as a result of that for RTÉ.
That number could balloon as high as €21m before the year is out, and has left executives scrambling, with director general Kevin Bakhurst noting that €34.5m would be needed from the Government to help them out.
Ms Smyth, however, said that not "one red cent" will be given to the broadcaster if it did not provide TDs and Senators with full transparency.
"There is a much bigger issue here and they cannot expect either the minister or the government of the day to plug a €50 million gap or hole without absolute clarity and transparency about how money has been spent."
The broadcaster has struggled majorly since 2018 with 'bogus' self-employment issues.
The practice sees workers who are performing the functions of a regular employee classified as self-employed or freelance for PRSI purposes.
This has in turn led to questions over how RTÉ will backdate PRSI payments for the hundreds of self-employed workers.
We already know that there are at least 356 'bogus' workers, though there are suggestions of upwards of 700.
We should get more clarity on Wednesday afternoon.
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