Full restitution for bogus self-employed workers would 'bankrupt RTÉ', says Bakhurst

RTE director-general Kevin Bakhurst said: 'The honest thing is if RTÉ was to go back and say ‘ok, if you have been an employee, we’ll give you all those rights and we’ll make it up for you now’, we would be bankrupt overnight because there were so many people treated like that.'

RTÉ’s director general admitted that should RTÉ make full restitution for its bogus self-employed workers, the broadcaster would “be bankrupt overnight”.

Speaking at a townhall meeting with employees last February, Kevin Bakhurst acknowledged that many RTÉ workers, who had for varying lengths of time been treated as self-employed contractors rather than full employees, had felt shortchanged by previous processes aimed at addressing the issue of bogus self-employment at the station.