Toy Show The Musical: 'Lapse of control' ended up costing RTÉ €2.2m, board meeting heard

'Toy Show The Musical' lost €2.2m for RTÉ after just a month’s worth of performances in December 2022. File picture: Andres Poveda

There was a “lapse of control” surrounding the development of RTÉ’s 'Toy Show The Musical' which lost the broadcaster some €2.2m, according to RTÉ board chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh.

That is according to new board meeting minutes from July which have been released by RTÉ.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh described the Toy Show The Musical figures as “stark” adding that no risk assessment was done “which shows a weakness in board controls”.

The musical lost €2.2m for the broadcaster after just a month’s worth of performances when it ran last December.

Although there was a presentation to the entire board which included figures, there was no formal approval from the board for the project. The minutes read: 

The board noted that they were aware of the project and the figures and did not halt the project but in their view, it came to the board as a fait accompli.

RTÉ interim deputy director general Adrian Lynch said the project had the support and involvement of former chairwoman Moya Doherty.

Speaking at a lecture on the future of public broadcasting recently, Ms Doherty said the project “was a risk worth taking”.

RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst and RTÉ board chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh pictured in July on their way to meet Media Minister Catherine Martin in the wake of the RTÉ controversy. The board's July minutes reveal details of its discussions about 'Toy Show The Musical'. File picture: Sam Boal/RollingNews

According to the minutes, Ms Ní Raghallaigh said there was a “lapse of control and lack of rigorous interrogation by the Board” noting that there was no risk assessment provided by the executive.

Despite this, board member Jonathan Ruane said it was good that “RTÉ are trying new things” and important that the broadcaster enter adjacent markets.

Fellow board member PJ Mathews noted that the musical came from a commercial imperative to drive additional commercial income for the broadcaster.

‘Very severe’ financial difficulties 

Separately, meeting minutes from September state that several options were being considered among “very severe” financial difficulties with director general Kevin Bakhurst saying RTÉ’s building in Cork was being valued in addition to the Donnybrook site.

The board noted the listed status of the building in Cork with Mr Bakhurst saying he was “looking at this issue”, the minutes read, with the following sentence being redacted.

Ms Ní Raghallaigh, who noted that the broadcaster would run out of cash by April if no funding was received, said a lot of the organisation’s costs are “people costs”.

“So the number of levers for cost cutting are limited and the position is very severe without interim funding,” the minutes read.

This week, the broadcaster announced a redundancy plan to cut up to 400 jobs within the organisation.

Meanwhile, a board meeting in August before Mr Bakhurst’s announcement that Ryan Tubridy would not return showed unanimous support from board members.

Several agreed that the decision to conclude negotiations with Mr Tubridy was an important part of rebuilding trust with board member David Harvey saying “no one is bigger than the organisation”.

Mr Bakhurst said trust had broken down after Mr Tubridy’s team had reverted with changes after the main terms had already been agreed.

He noted that Mr Tubridy had also released a statement which appeared to question “the basis for the necessary restatement of fees” for 2020 and 2021.

Chairwoman Siún Ní Raghallaigh said she fully supported the move while Mr Ruane congratulated Mr Bakhurst on making the “difficult decision”.