Disputed painting in RTÉ not worth €100K, says director general
The painting, titled 'kitchen Interior with seated woman' is by artist Gerard Dillon. File picture: Mark Stedman
The ownership of €60,000 painting that has been sitting in an office in RTÉ for four decades is currently in dispute, director general Kevin Bakhurst has confirmed.
As he dismissed suggestions that the painting was valued at €100,000, he said it would be handed back if there was proof it was loaned to the national broadcaster from an art gallery.
Media minister Patrick O’Donovan told Cabinet on Wednesday that RTÉ holds a “valuable artwork that is not recorded on its assets' register” and that the ownership is disputed.
It was noted that the value of the painting is more than €100,000.
However, speaking on RTÉ’s , Mr Bakhurst disputed this and said the last valuation suggested it was worth €60,000.
The painting, titled 'kitchen Interior with seated woman' is by artist Gerard Dillon.
reported in December 2021 that RTÉ was considering selling it.
“It is currently in a not very conspicuous place on an office wall,” Mr Bakhurst said.
“Suffice to say, we believe that it may well have been lent to us by an art gallery about 40 or 50 years ago, and we're trying to find the paperwork. That is not straightforward.
“The art gallery has been in contact, saying they believe it was lent to us, but they also don't have paperwork definitively to show that.
“We're trying to find out if it belongs to them. They said they'd like it back. To the best of our knowledge, it may well be theirs.
“We need to try and bottom it out. If it is, we'll give it back to them, obviously.”
He added if “there is no proof and they swear it is theirs, there would be no reason to think it is probably not”.
Mr Bakhurst said that RTÉ recorded a surplus of €5.5m last year and is on track to record another surplus in 2025, with licence fee revenue “steady on last year”.
He also dismissed suggestions that historic pension payments that were flagged by RTÉ’s chief financial officer were not approved, arguing that the issue is how they were reported on the balance sheet and that a “slightly higher provision” should have been made.
This focuses on the pensions of eight individuals.
Mr Bakhurst said that four of these are “historical” and related to three people over the age of 90 and one person over 100.
One of these relates to a pension being given to the widow of a former director general.
The other four pensions are connected to voluntary retirements.
The director general also said he believes RTÉ is “confident” of being “there or thereabouts” in delivering 100 voluntary exits from the organisation.
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