Government receives RTÉ legal advice over exit package payments

Sources have said they expect director general Kevin Bakhurst to address the updated legal advice as early as Thursday. Picture: Stephen Collins/Collins Photos

The Government has received RTÉ legal advice which states that the broadcaster cannot breach confidentiality clauses relating to payments given to staff due to a risk of litigation

RTÉ director general Kevin Bakhurst is expected to address the advice given to the broadcaster in the coming days.

In a statement on Wednesday night, RTÉ said it had briefed Media Minister Catherine Martin on the updated legal advice which Mr Bakhurst sought following political pressure for the station to give full transparency on exit packages to former director of strategy Rory Coveney, as well as an exit package and confidentiality clause for RTÉ’s former chief financial officer (CFO) Richard Collins.

The three Government leaders have also been briefed on it.

It is understood that coalition leaders have been told that it would take a court order to rescind any non-disclosure agreements reached with those who have left RTÉ.

An RTÉ spokesperson said: "RTÉ has received full legal advice and has shared it with and briefed the Minister."

A spokesperson for Ms Martin confirmed that she received the updated legal advice from RTÉ.

"Minister Martin has received from RTÉ their updated legal advice in relation to exit packages, and was given a briefing by the director general and the chair of RTÉ board [Siún Ní Raghallaigh]. Minister Martin will not be commenting until after it is published by RTÉ,” the spokesperson said.

Sources have said they expect Mr Bakhurst to address the updated legal advice as early as Thursday. An RTÉ spokesperson said it was yet “to be determined” when Mr Bakhurst would address the fresh legal advice.

Speaking in the Dáil, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said that confidentiality clauses for exit packages were "the norm" in RTÉ which "is not right".

He was responding to Fine Gael TD Alan Dillon who is also a member of the media committee.

Mr Dillon said the details of RTÉ's exit packages to its senior executives and managers, including their negotiation and approval process, still remains undisclosed.

He said despite the promises of transparency and reform “we have heard from RTÉ since last summer the tendency to hide, evade and obscure the truth, which seems to be deeply ingrained in its culture.” 

He asked whether the Taoiseach felt that the national broadcaster should continue to use confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements for these exit packages, and should there be a cap on severance packages for senior executives and managers.

Mr Varadkar repeated his belief "that there should be a cap" on the value of exit packages which use public money. He said it was his view that "confidentiality clauses should be avoided by public bodies", although there may be cases where they are needed.

Mr Varadkar said: "It seems they were the norm rather than the exception in RTÉ, and that's not right.”

Further scrutiny

Consideration is ongoing on whether to bring RTÉ under the remit of the Comptroller and Auditor General, Mr Varadkar told a meeting of his parliamentary party on Wednesday.

Under current laws, the Comptroller and Auditor General does not have permission to audit all recipients of state funds and can only do so if designated by law.

If brought under the remit of the C&AG, this would allow the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) to undertake further scrutiny of the broadcaster.

The Oireachtas media committee has received legal advice in a bid to hear evidence from former RTÉ Director General Dee Forbes.

It’s understood instead of requiring Ms Forbes to come before the committee to give her account of events, a written submission or evidence via video link could be facilitated, sources have told the Irish Examiner.

Members of the committee were given “a steer on a few options to exhaust before compellability” is considered, sources said.

It is understood the Media Committee will now ask Ms Forbes if she could suggest any other way that the Committee could make reasonable accommodation to support her ill health to enable her to present to the committee.

The Committee is of the view that she is the most important key figure as members have heard from everyone else at some point.

Ms Forbes has not attended any Oireachtas committees since controversy emerged at the national broadcaster last summer due to health reasons.